


Marco Polo

by sharkinterviewee



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, College party au, F/M, Fluff, Jamy, Peraltiago
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:36:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4456847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkinterviewee/pseuds/sharkinterviewee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jamy college party AU. Amy meets a fairly attractive stranger at a party who she bonds with as he tries to help her out of a dilemma. She can't figure out why he's being so nice to her, but she's determined to know by the end of the night. 1000% Peraltiago.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> Based off prompt:  
> I'm lost and I just want to leave this stupid party so I'm looking for my friend Marco who brought me here and YOU'RE THAT ASSHAT WHO KEEPS SHOUTING "POLO" WHENEVER I CALL FOR HIM
> 
>  
> 
>  

"Marco!" Amy shouted as she walked around the pool for the third time. The backyard was pretty big so she circled around the place hoping that he would return outside, because she absolutely did not want to go into that sweaty mass of an orgy that was the inside of the house. Amy hated parties, and she knew that she never should have let Marco convince her to go to one. He promised he wouldn't leave her side all night, and he would have his phone's volume all the way up, even though he said it wasn't necessary since he would be right next to her all night. Yeah, right.

He promised they would only be there "20 minutes, tops", and that there wouldn't be that many people. Apparently Marco had family here in Hudson, and he guilted Amy into coming by saying she was a hermit and needed to experience the world. They even took Marco's truck, which was a stupid, stupid idea on her part. She wouldn't be able to get home without him, and there was no way she was walking the 150 miles back to Georgetown.

"Marco!" She yelled again.

"Polo!" Someone yelled back.

She had been calling for her friend for 15 minutes, and every time some asshole kept replying with Polo. She was gonna throttle whoever it was when she found him. At first she had hoped it was Marco responding, but by the second time the guy yelled back, she was sure it wasn't her friend. She wished she had the courage to actually call out the idiot messing with her, but she was shy, timid Amy. Even if she did find the idiot, she'd probably apologize for bumping into him or something. Sometimes she hated being herself.

She ventured near the back door of the house hoping to work up the courage to actually enter through the sliding glass doors. She hated crowds. She hated people. Or, really, people hated her. It was a mutual feeling. She only had two friends, Marco and Kylie. And she wasn't sure how long Marco would be on the list anymore.

"Marco!" She called again, praying that he would actually hear it this time.

Then she saw it. Him, rather. Some idiot with his back turned to her was in the middle of a conversation with a group of friends, and he lifted his head up to the sky, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted "POLO!"

"It's you!" She shouted to the strangers back, glad to have finally found the asshole so she could tell him to stop messing with her. His friends that could see her were all staring, so she guessed that cued him in that Amy was addressing him. He turned around and looked at her with a question on his face.

She was taken aback by how not-asshole-ish he looked. He looked nice, unlike half of the guys here who were wearing sunglasses at 11 pm with dragging shorts. He was wearing a gray T shirt with some faded logo on it and plain old jeans that looked remarkably well on him. His short, curly hair paired with deep brown eyes made her think that he was the first guy she had seen there who wasn't half bad looking.

"You're the idiot who keeps yelling back Polo!" She said after she realized that she was taking far too long to say something.

"I was wondering when you'd find me. You know, you're pretty bad at this game," he smiled. And damn, was it a nice smile.

"It's not a game!" She snapped, then realized that he probably wasn't being malicious with the whole Polo thing, so she figured it was best not to take it out on him. "I'm looking for my friend Marco."

He nodded in understanding.

"It doesn't look like you're having much luck. Want some help?" He offered.

"No." She didn't want any help from someone she didn't know, she didn't want to be looking anymore at all, she just wanted to go home and crawl into bed and pass out. But she realized that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. It would probably go by quicker if she got some help. She looked over his shoulder and saw horde of people in the house, and that was the deciding factor.

"Yes," she recanted. And he smiled a way too good to exist smile.

"We've been yelling out here for 15 minutes right? Were you out here the whole time? Have you checked inside yet?"

Amy shook her head. She was still trying to be brave enough to even pass the threshold. Of course he didn't know that, so he walked in with no problem. She knew he was under the impression that she would follow right behind him, but she froze. Just stood on the porch watching the back of his head disappear into the sea of faces. She briefly wondered if he would come back, or if he would just get bored and find new people to talk too while she was just standing in the same spot for the next couple hundred years.

But not even a minute went by before she saw his face again, looking over heads for someone, and then stopped when his eyes landed on her. She knew what she looked like. Some pathetic girl with wide eyes shaking in her boots. That was always what she looked like.

"Are you okay?" He asked when he came back outside.

"Yeah. I just... I just don't like crowds," she told him, and waited for him to laugh. She was an adult now, and she thought that when she left high school she left behind all of the biting remarks and insults, but she found out that wasn't the case. She could actually walk away from jerks now that she wasn't a minor at school, but it didn't make the mocking sting any less.

"Do you wanna stay outside then? And I'll just call his name a couple hundred times? Last name?" He asked kindly, and it threw her off her game. She wasn't expecting a random stranger in a random town to be, well, compassionate. Not to her at least.

"No, I need to go. You won't recognize him, and he probably won't be able to hear his name over the music." She tried to steel herself to the absolute hell she was going to walk into. He watched her carefully as if he was expecting her to change her mind, but evidently she wouldn't.

"Here," he said, holding out his hand. "I'll stay with you."

Even though she had been told that exact same thing by a friend she had known for years who turned out to be lying, she had a feeling this guy wasn't. For some reason. She didn't know why, but she trusted him.

She wrapped her hand in his.

* * *

"Knock knock!" The guy shouted as he opened the door without actually knocking. They had searched the 1st floor and even though it felt like at least one other person was touching her all the time, she just concentrated on the guy's hand. The second floor had a whole hall lined with doors, most of which led to bedrooms. And you can imagine just what people were doing at a college party in a house with that many bedrooms.

"Any Marco here?" He asked as they walked in on the fourth couple they had seen that night having sex. They screamed at him to shut the door, so he complied. Even though there were much less people up there, he was still holding on to her hand.

"I'm Jake, by the way. Figured I should introduce myself since it's only the polite thing to do after witnessing more than two people having sex. That's the rule, I think." He held out his right hand for her to shake, but then realized that he was holding her right hand with his left so he dropped her hand so she could return the favor. She was disappointed that he dropped her hand, because she knew that he probably wouldn't pick it up again. There were only a couple of other people in the hallway at one time, so she didn't have an excuse to keep holding his. That didn't change the fact that she wanted to, though.

"Amy," she responded, giving him a shake, and accepting that it was probably the last time she would have an excuse to touch him that night. That sounded weird, even in her own head. It was just nice having some human contact when she felt completely alone at the moment.

"Ooo, nice handshake. Take a class?" It wasn't a normal compliment, and if anyone else had said that she would assume they were mocking her, but it was hard to tell with him. With Jake.

She shrugged and dropped her hand, but before it fell too far he grabbed it again and led her to the next door to ostensibly interrupt the next couple. Her heart pounded when she realized for the second time that night that, no, he really wasn't going to let go. And it was amazing.

* * *

They had spent at least 30 minutes combing the house with still no luck. four freaking stories and she still couldn't find Marco, even though they checked every room. Jake finally suggested that they should check to see if his car was still there. They walked down the road to where she was sure that he had left it parked, and of course, it was gone. She wasn't sure if she should have been surprised or not. She pulled out her cell phone and realized that she had received a text message about 10 minutes ago.

 

_Marco:  
Sorry Amy. Had to bail. There was this girl, and we're back at her place. I think she's the one. I know I always say that, but I wouldn't have left you if I wasn't sure about it this time. I swear I'll make it up to you. Call Kylie._

 

"Dammit!" Amy yelled at her phone as if her friend could hear her. "You know Kylie won't wake up, and these are not the shoes for walking back to Georgetown! Dammit Marco!" She slid down to the ground against the side of some strangers car.

Jake walked over and Amy explained how absolutely horrible her situation was. She only had two friends even remotely close to the area, and Kylie was back in Georgetown- and she wouldn't wake up no matter how many times she called. And Marco was out for the counting, so she was royally screwed.

"Want a ride?" He asked. He was standing a few feet away from her with his hands twiddling in his pocket. It almost looked like he was nervous, but Amy was sure that couldn't be the case.

"You know where Georgetown is?" She asked. He obviously didn't, or else he would not have offered to drive her two hours home.

"Yup. Have some friends out there." She briefly wondered how far away he lived. She wondered if her city was too far out of his way, or if Georgetown was actually on the way back to his place. She wasn't comfortable asking.

"How do I know you're not some crazy ax murderer with a chain saw in the trunk?" She asked in a way that hopefully made it clear that she was joking.

"First off, I keep my chain saw in the back seat," he began. "And second off, that probably wasn't the best joke to make in this situation." She wasn't sure if he could see the smile he brought to her face in the dark.

"I mean, I'm not. And I don't know. Like take a picture of my license plate and send it to someone, or keep your phone out on speed dial or something. Christ, what is the world coming to these days?" He said as he ran his hand through his hair. "I just thought you were cute and nice and wanted to give you a ride so you wouldn't have to figure all this mess out alone." He stopped his rambling when he noticed she had her hand held up to him.

"Lead the way."

* * *

Jake had actually parked a little farther than she was expecting, but the walk wasn't too bad. Especially not with him. They stopped outside some oldish black car that she knew was probably cool, and he pulled out his keys when they reached the front of his car.

"The keys were in my pocket, because it's my car, registered under my real name, and the license plates are 100% not stolen, so snap away. If you end up dead in a ditch somewhere, the trail will lead back to me," he assured her as he ceremoniously motioned to the front license plate. He seemed more than a little surprised when she just walked past it and sat in the front seat. She laughed at the amount of time he just stood outside, and she laughed even harder when he missed putting the keys inside the slot to turn on the car a couple of times, but she smiled to make sure he knew that she wasn't laughing at him.

She was laughing at the whole situation. The utter absurdity that some guy who was more than a little cute and completely sweet was actually driving her home. She never would have imagined this in a million years. And it was great.

* * *

"So where are you from?" Amy asked before they had even been driving for 10 minutes. It was gonna be a long drive, so she figured out she might as well get to know him. If it were anyone else she would probably sit the whole way in silence, but she wanted to know more about Jake.

"I grew up here," he told her, motioning vaguely around at the darkened road in front of him.

"No, I mean, where do you live. Like now?" She clarified.

"A couple of blocks off of that turn we just passed," he said with his thumb pointing behind him.

She coughed on the breath she was taking, and she was sure that if she had anything other than air in her mouth, she would have choked. This was awful. He obviously had no idea where he was going, because if he did he definitely wouldn't have agreed to take her. She was thinking she might actually enjoy the trip home with him, but he was gonna have to pull over and let her take a cab or something when he learned how out of the way it was.

"Oh no. You don't know where Georgetown is." She stated.

"I do," he assured her.

"No, you don't. It's two hours away. Like 150 miles. You should pull over. I'll find a cab. This was really nice, but I'm not letting you take me two hours out of your way." She felt her heart in her throat, and she really didn't want the night to end so soon. But there was no way she was conning Jake into taking her that far. He would probably still offer to take her home, because he really was a good guy, but she couldn't let him do that.

"I know where Georgetown is. I was up there three weeks ago. I know exactly how far away it is." She could tell he was being very deliberate in his word choice, but she had no idea what that meant. If he knew where it was when he offered to take her, than why in the world would he make that offer in the first place? Did that mean he wasn't just doing it to be polite? Did that mean she didn't have to be polite either, and could sorta maybe actually let him drive her?

"Why? Why are you taking me?" She blurted out. She didn't mean to sound so insolent, or to make it sound like she wasn't grateful, and she also didn't want to make him uncomfortable, but the words just tumbled out her lips.

Jake was quiet for a moment while he chose his response.

"I don't have any better place to be."

* * *

"I'm assuming you're going to college in Georgetown, right? No one just lives there to live there, as far as I know. Every resident is either a student or a teacher, and even half of the teachers live in another town, don't they?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. I think even the grocers are from out of town. They just work there cause they know they can charge anything because every student is too lazy to shop anywhere more than 15 minutes away. I keep saying we should start a boycott, but apparently I'm a 'radical' and a 'trouble maker'. They're really just afraid that they'll have to shop somewhere else. I'm positive the only reason they didn't choose me for the student board was to avoid a public relations nightmare," she told him, and he did the weirdest thing. He laughed. He laughed like she was funny, and she had never been considered even remotely funny. His laugh didn't sound like music, but it was just as beautiful as the best song she had ever heard.

"What about you?"

"College too. Online though. And working as a teacher's aid a couple of days a week to pay for everything. Rooming with three friends, and we're all doing online. Me, Rosa, Charles, and Gina figured out that it was cheaper to just split up the rent and stuff. It's great cause we're all majoring in the same thing. Forensic science. So if one of us doesn't get the concept, there's a 99% chance that at least one of the other three does."

"You're kidding," Amy told him, not even believing it. That was a crazy coincidence if she had ever seen one.

"Surprising, I know. These gorgeous looks and brains too? What don't I have." He stated the last sentence rather than asking.

"No, I mean, I'm studying forensic science. At Georgetown. I wanted to do online school, but I realized that if I did I would probably have 0 human contact all year."

"Really? A social butterfly like you? I never would have guessed," he smiled to show that he was only teasing. God, that smile was gonna be the death of her.

"It must be destiny," he mused.

She was positive he wasn't serious, and she didn't even believe in destiny, but she so wanted it to be true. That destiny was bringing her and Jake together.

* * *

"So, you... with Marco?" Jake asked in one of the uncommon lulls in their conversation. Even if there was a bit of silence between their topics, it was never a bad silence.

"No, he's just a friend. Not with anyone," she said, and then mentally kicked herself. She didn't need to add in the last bit, but she just did.

"What about you? Like Rosa or Gina?" Amy asked. She only felt okay asking since he asked first and it wouldn't make it too weird, but she hoped his answer was no. She was sure it wasn't though. He was probably dating this wonderful girl that was just a sweet as him. That would be good for him, even if it was disappointing for her. "Or Charles?" She added with a slight smirk.

And there was that laugh again. She was sure she would be able to hear it a thousand more times with out growing tired of it.

"God no. We've all known each other since 1st grade. That would be so weird," he shuddered. "Charles especially. So nope, I'm a member of the lonely hearts club too."

She really, really tried to not be happy at that.

* * *

She was glad that he was driving. That meant he had to keep his eyes focused on the road, giving her ample opportunity to stare, which she gladly took. She was positive that he was aware of her watching too. Whenever she was staring he never so much as glanced in her direction, but if she took her eyes off of him for a moment, his gaze always flitted to hers.

She was also glad that the darkness hid her blush, or at least covered it well enough in his fleeting glances. She had kinda breezed past the fact that he called her cute when he said it because she didn't know what to think about it, but it kept popping back into her mind every few minutes, causing her face to heat up. So she was very thankful he wasn't able to see that. Though she wondered what he would think if he could.

* * *

"You have a lot of friends growing up?" She asked him. She was sure she already knew the answer. Just how easy he was to talk to, and how well he carried himself at the party, and just how... well... charismatic he was. Completely gregarious. It was obvious that he used to be a popular kid. Probably still was.

"Pretty much the same three. I mean, I guess I was on good terms with pretty much everyone, but I wouldn't say I had too many friends. Real friends, at least." He was kinda beating around the bush, or maybe he actually thought that, but he just confirmed her suspicions.

"I knew it!" Amy shouted, and he looked over at her in surprise. "You were one of the cool kids, weren't you? I bet you always had somewhere to sit at lunch in high school."

Jake laughed once she had explained her outburst.

"Is any high schooler actually cool? Kids are just sucky human beings. There's a reason they can't vote, cause they would ruin everything and just pick the president based on who looked best in their prom photo. So, I mean, I guess I got along okay, but I still sucked like every other 15 year old. I bet you actually had worthwhile opinions as a freshman though," he said as he gave her a sideways glance.

"Maybe. Didn't earn me a lot of friends though." She realized that it was probably a stupid thing to say because she didn't want his pity. But she was sure she was gonna get it then.

"Sorry. That sucks," he told her sympathetically, and she thought that was the end of that, her informing him of her patheticness. "Too bad you didn't grow up in Hudson. You would have fit right in with us. Five musketeers instead of four. I'm sure the other guys would have loved you too. Hell, Charles would probably be your best friend instead of mine if he had known you."

Amy was a little surprised by how earnest he sounded. Like he actually meant it, not just that he was trying to make her feel better. And she definitely noticed the 'too' in his sentence. He said they would have loved her too, as in addition to him. She knew what he meant and she wasn't getting hung up on the word love, but just that it was a positive word. If he had even said liked it would still be a big deal. That he liked talking to her. Loved talking to her, actually. Loved her company. So it may have actually made a difference that he said loved, if only for the fact that it meant he really liked her company, not just plain old liked her company. She definitely wasn't getting caught up on the word love because of it's other connotation. Nope, not at all. That had nothing to do with it.

She could at least admit it to herself, though. It had everything to do with it.

* * *

"Do you go to parties often?" Amy asked, genuinely curious. Though she had to admit she didn't know him that well, he didn't seem like the kind of person who would go to parties often. At least parties like that often, the ones mixed with douches and screaming kids that got the cops called on them for having the music play too loud.

"Nah, just when we want some free drinks cause we're tired of drinking grocery store beer. Rich kids have the best booze," He acted like he was delivering some sage advice that was passed down to him through the ages.

"How much do you think that house cost?"

"I was wondering the same thing! It's gotta be a bazillion dollars, right? Who the hell needs over 15 bedrooms? What in the world are they doing with them?" He whispered the last part like it was some conspiracy theory, and she had to smile.

"And if you had all that money, why in the world would you waste it in Hudson?" She wondered aloud.

"Hey!" Jake whined, sounding offended.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean for that to come out as a jab."

"Nah, I agree with you. If I had a bazillion dollars, I would live in a mansion a hundred miles away from the nearest city, and my place would be tricked to death. 24 hour lion tamers, a helicopter painted like a great white shark, and every light in the house is clap on clap off. Oh, and I would have a swimming pool the size of a hot tub, and a hot tub the size of a swimming pool." He sounded so excited, and she could tell that he had spent hours thinking about this before, and probably would spend hours thinking about it in the future too. He knew exactly what he wanted, and she couldn't fault him for that.

"Those would be the most useless pools in the world," she informed him, completely serious, though trying to be polite enough to not crush his dreams.

"Don't lie. If I had an Olympic sized hot tub you would visit me every weekend, wouldn't you?"

"It does sound nice," she admitted, and he smiled triumphantly.

She didn't admit though, that she would visit him every weekend even if he didn't have an Olympic size hot tub. Or anything else he mentioned. Just him.

* * *

"The stars are beautiful," Amy said, completely awestruck. She had been to Hudson before, and a couple of other places farther out, but she had never made the trip at night. She'd never seen so many stars in her life. It looked like those pictures you saw in magazines or books where the twinkling lights are plastered all over the sky. It really looked like the sky was one bright light that had spots of black in between the spaces rather than the other way around. Of course she knew it was the light pollution, but she had thought you would have to be in the middle of nowhere to see the sky completely unadulterated. She actually didn't mind being mistaken this time.

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "It's the best part about this drive. Practically no city lights at the half way point, so it's the perfect view."

She cursed herself for not paying attention on the drive over. She was just so wrapped up in him. That meant they were already at the half way point, and she would have done anything to make the drive longer. She looked at the clock and realized they were passed the half way point. Way past it. They had been on the road for an hour and 20 minutes already. And she knew she didn't have nearly enough time with him left.

She tried to get back to the ease she was feeling just a few moments before, but she didn't quite make it. She tried to concentrate on enjoying her time with him while it lasted, but she wasn't very successful. Amy dreaded the realization. The clock was about to strike midnight on the best night of her life, and her dress would be back to rags and her carriage back to a pumpkin. And she didn't even have a glass slipper to leave behind.

* * *

They had basically stopped talking when they reached Georgetown. The whole atmosphere was heavy, but Amy wasn't sure if it was all her fault, or if he had a reason for it too. She just gave him quiet directions on where to turn until they finally reached her dorm, and she thought she would suffocate from the pressure that was just weighing down her lungs. He pulled to a stop right outside the doors to the building and they both kinda sat there for a bit, neither of them knowing what to do or say.

If she didn't know better, she would think that he had been flirting with her for some of the ride. But that seemed to have come to a stop, so she wasn't sure what that meant. Was it just wishful thinking? She knew she should get out and walk away, even though that was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to say something just so this wouldn't be the last and only night she ever had with him. But she was Amy. A coward. She knew that she would regret it the rest of her life if she didn't say something. She reasoned that maybe if she got out, she would get the courage to run back and actually tell him. Something. Anything. Just that he was amazing, and that this was the best night of her life, and that she didn't have words for how she felt but she had butterflies in her stomach when she looked at him, and even when she wasn't looking at him, and it wasn't a bad feeling at all. She couldn't stand the thought that this would be the last time she ever talked to him. She knew it was stupid to be planning on coming back to the car while she was still in the car, but that was the only way she knew how to do things. Over analyze everything, and probably ruin it too. She unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed the door handle with her right hand, but Jake's hand shot out to grab her left arm, completely taking her by surprise.

"Can I see you again?" He sounded apprehensive, like he was afraid that she would say no. Like that was even in the realm of possibilities. It was the first time that she had seen him look anywhere remotely unsure of himself, and lost his complete cockiness. He looked almost distressed as he awaited her answer, and it gave her hope that maybe he kinda sorta might possibly feel the same way about her that she did about him.

"Oh thank god," she breathed out, and he took that as a sign that he did something wrong.

"Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to grab you like that. And scare you. I mean, you can leave. I'm really not a crazy murderer or anything. Sorry, I just didn't-" but Amy cut him off from his rambling.

"No, no, it's not that. I just knew I was gonna regret it the rest of my life if I never got to... see you again," she confessed, happy enough to use his terminology.

"Oh," he said quietly. When he didn't say anything after that she worried that she had said too much, and was really regretting using the word regret. That was stupid. Of course that would freak him out. Who says that on the first night that they meet someone? She probably sounded like a crazy person. Even though that was really how she felt, it was still stupid to say.

But then he smiled. One of his gorgeous, perfect smiles, and she knew it was okay. His whole face lit up, and it was amazing.

"Phone number?" He asked. She probably should have thought about that. Of course there would be no way that they would see each other again if they couldn't communicate. She pulled out her cell phone and gave it to him to enter his number, but he gave it back and gave her his.

"I haven't had a phone number memorized since 2002. I've had this number for three years, and all I can remember is that it starts with a 7. I think."

She smiled and sent herself a message from his phone so she would have his number too, then gave it back to him. He turned away from her a moment to slide his phone back in his pocket.

"And Jake?"

"Yeah?" He asked, just beginning to turn his head back to face her. And she surprised him by crashing her lips to his. It was a complete sneak attack but she didn't care. She didn't know how in the world she managed to be so bold, but she was ecstatic that she did. It was the best feeling in the world when his lips started to move in response to hers, tugging and pulling and following in tandem with her, just heaven on earth. His lips were soft and pliant as she got lost in his taste.

She pulled back for breath and noticed the complete dazed look on his face. She was half afraid that she had made a mistake. She really wished she could read social cues better, or at least had more experience with guys. Something so she could have any idea as to what he was thinking.

"Did I just do something really stupid?" Amy asked worriedly as she bit her lip. She was mentally kicking herself because things were going so well and she just screwed it all up.

"Maybe. But I'm so glad you did," he flashed her a grin.

She made a move to actually get out because she was sure that she needed to leave while this was still going good, because if she stayed she would absolutely ruin it. But Jake undid his seat belt and guided her lips back to his.

She had been kissed before, but never anything like this. She opened her mouth and his tongue found hers and she moaned. Honest to god moaned. If she had to describe the wonders of his mouth in one word, it would be adaptable. She twisted her fingers into his hair which somehow felt even better than it looked. His hands traveled the length of her sides to rest on her hips, but then all too soon he pulled back, and she sighed at the loss of contact. It was practically a whine.

"Sorry, just had to do that again. Didn't want to wait until next time." Jake was panting, and she realized she was too.

And she should have told him that he didn't have to apologize because that was just amazing, but she was a bit concentrated on the second half of his comment. Next time. He was planning on kissing her again. And that was the best news she could have received. Her heart was pounding, part of it was because of everything that was happening in that moment, but part of it was in anticipation. Next time.

And then his stupid phone rang. It took him a few seconds to get back to reality and realize that it was his phone that was ringing. He slipped it out of his pocket and answered it.

"What? I'm a little busy at the moment," Jake sounded more than a little annoyed while he waited for a response on the other end of the phone. "Seriously? You guys are absolute idiots. I don't understand how all of you lived past childhood," he sounded incredulous, and she had to laugh a little at the side of the conversation that she was privy to. "I'm in Georgetown. I'll get there when I get there. Just keep yourself busy doing whatever the hell you do when this happens every other week. You know you're horrible for making me look like the responsible one... Yeah, I'll be there. Later," he said hanging up. He turned to Amy and looked extremely apologetic.

"I'm sorry. I really don't want to go and I really don't want you to leave but my idiot friends have managed to once again not have a single set of keys between the three of them, so I've gotta get back. But... I'll see you soon, right?" He checked with her sounding hopeful.

"Right," she agreed, then gave him a chaste kiss which still made the list of her top three kisses ever. She was sure he wouldn't ask her to leave, so she made the decision for him and got out of the car to walk up to the entrance of her building.

"It's Peralta!" He yelled, standing up out of the car when she was about half way to her dorm's doors.

"What?"

"My last name!" He clarified. "It's Peralta!"

"Oh! Santiago!" She yelled back at him. And even though he was still a distance away, she could see the grin that spread across his face.

"I'm glad I met you, Amy Santiago!"

"You too, Peralta!" She shouted back, and walked the whole way backwards to her dorm just so she wouldn't have to take her eyes off him for a second. He didn't even get back into his car until she was out of his sight, but she stayed to watch him drive off.

Her whole body was buzzing, he lips tingling, her heart pounding, and her blood rushing. She was positive it would be hours before she would even have a chance of falling asleep, but she didn't mind a single bit. She kept running her fingers absent mindedly over her lips, hoping the feeling would never wear off. She made a mental note to thank Marco for accidentally being the best friend ever.

And she decided that maybe she did believe in destiny after all.


	2. Tonight you're perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gets a little racy, but nothing too explicit. And I've decided that the theme song to this chapter is Tonight You're Perfect by New Politics.

Amy collapsed onto her bed, somehow managing to navigate her way through the dorm without turning on a single light _and_ without injuring herself. It was nice to be in a familiar surrounding again, after all of the events of that night seemed like a dream. A mirage she imagined because she was dying of thirst or something, a complete delusion. She compulsively checked her phone every 10 minutes or so to make sure that Jake's number was still in there and that she really hadn't imagined the whole night, and him. When she inevitably looked back up at her ceiling because she couldn't keep her eyes closed for more than a few seconds, she kept expecting to see stars.

She had goosebumps covering almost every inch of her flesh, but her blood felt paradoxically hot under her skin.

And everything she was feeling was just strange. So unusual and weird and wonderful. Amy wished that Kylie was up, because she definitely needed to ask her about it. About everything. She had no idea if this was what everyone felt like when they were attracted to someone, or if it was just another case of her freakazoid nature. And if everyone had felt like this before, why the _fuck_ didn't they tell her it felt so good?

She finally forced herself to get out of the bed and distract herself, because if she thought about it any longer, she knew she was going to work herself into a frenzy. She walked to the kitchen and got everything ready to make herself a cup of tea (even though she actually had to turn the lights on to accomplish this). Amy went through the familiar motions of putting water in the microwave, grabbing a random tea bag that had the word sleep in the title, and then steeping it absentmindedly to let it cool down. This was a routine for her, every time she was up late at night with no hope of resting. It never actually helped her sleep, like the label promised. But it always managed to taste like home, so it gave her just the right amount of comfort when she needed it.

She nearly dropped her mug (narrowly avoided third degree burns) when she heard her phone's text tone go off. She raced back to her bedroom and flipped on the light, expecting to see her phone on the night stand. Which, of course, it wasn't. She always had the worst luck. She threw off the sheets of her bed hoping that it would tumble out onto the floor with each piece of fabric, but once again, her search was fruitless. She turned on every light in the hallway and checked any random counter space that she would probably absentmindedly set it down without even realizing it- but all that seemed to be useless too. She knew she was being an idiot for being this worried about finding it, but she couldn't stop hoping it was Jake. Even though that was highly unlikely. There was probably a 50% chance it was Marco, a 20% chance that it was one of her brothers, a 29% chance that it was a wrong number, and a measly 1% chance that it was Jake. But she knew she had to find it for that 1% chance.

She sat down on the couch in frustration when she knew she just had to accept that she wouldn't be able to find it until the morning. And then she realized what an absolute idiot she was when she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She wasn't sure if it was more or less embarrassing than when she couldn't find her glasses that were sitting right on top of her head, but they seemed pretty equal.

She prepared herself for disappointment when she opened the text completely sure that it wouldn't be from the person she wanted it to be from.

Jake:

_Is it a social faux pas to contact someone 3 hours after you got their number? If it's not, doing so before 5 am definitely is, isn't it?_

Amy:

_I am absolutely not the right person to ask about social faux pas._

J:

_I didn't wake you, did I?_

A:

_No, I wasn't going to be able to sleep for hours anyway._

J:

_Oh. Why?_

Amy typed out a reply, and then decided it was stupid so she erased it all. She tried again, and it was even stupider the second time. She knew that she was taking entirely too long to reply, and she was sure he could see that little dots that meant she was typing, which didn't help speed her up any. She tried to find some way to sum up what she was feeling, but she didn't even know how to describe it to herself. She thought she may have found the right thing to type, but she spent a crazy amount of time deciding which punctuation mark to use, or if she should leave it out. Amy was positive she was probably the only person in the world who read that much into whether a message ended with a period or a blank space, but that didn't change anything.

A:

_You._

She was never good with words either way, so she thought that simple would be better. And that really was it. Jake was the reason her mind was racing. And it wasn't just one thing about him. Like how cute he was. Or how much she loved the color of his eyes. Or how kind he was. Or the heat she could still remember from their kiss. Or that she could practically still feel his hand on hers.

No, it was just him. Everything about him. The fact that it was even possible for him to exist.

J:

_In a good way or a bad way_

Amy didn't even have to think about her reply.

A:

_Good way. Definitely a good way._

Their conversation was cut short (even though an hour of texting wasn't really short- any amount of time talking to him was too short) when Jake's replies started lagging behind. After a couple of slow replies, he began apologizing profusely for being so tired, and admitted he probably needed to crash. He made it seem like needing sleep was something entirely under his control and that it was his fault he needed rest. Amy reassured him that exhaustion was not a voluntary process and that he really should go to bed.

He promised he would message her again when he woke up, and she was already anticipating it.

* * *

Amy decided she would make some coffee since the sun was already up. She wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep if she tried, but she knew that if she got a nap in during the day it would mess up her sleep schedule for the whole week.

"You're up early," Amy noted when Kylie walked into the kitchen in her pajamas, her brown hair knotted together and sticking up at odd angles.

Her roommate made a habit of never waking before 8 AM, even on school days, so her being up at this time- on a Saturday no less- was highly unusual.

"I was studying for my sociology test all Thursday night- and I swear it's a crime to have a test that counts for this much of your total grade this early on in the year. And I know you told me to tell the girls I wasn't going running on Friday, but I forgot and felt bad so I went anyway." Kylie told her, which still didn't explain why she was actually awake at the time. "And I know you told me that this would happen so you kept reminding me that I would hate myself if I did both of those on Friday, and I know it's my fault, and I know you were just trying to save me from myself, but don't get too smug about it." Amy smiled at her order.

"So I came home and went to bed at 5 pm. Got damn near 14 hours straight of the best sleep of my life," she smiled as she savored the memory. She kicked a chair out to sit in from the table that Amy was at with her cup of coffee. "How'd last night go?" Kylie asked nonchalantly, fully expecting for her roommate to have a horror story to go with it.

"Fine," Amy told her, revealing nothing. She really was dying to tell her roommate everything that happened, but she wanted to try to be the cool, calm, and collected one for once. But she failed and broke down not even 10 seconds later. "I kissed someone last night."

"Oh my god! Are you okay? Do I need to beat someone up? Do you remember what they looked like?" Kylie asked, automatically assuming that someone had forced themselves on her. Based on what Kylie knew about Amy, and based on what Amy knew about Amy, it was a fair assumption.

"No, _I_ kissed someone. On purpose." She enjoyed the look of surprise that flashed across Kylie's face again. She didn't know if it was a good thing, but Amy felt quite proud of herself for actually doing something unpredictable for once.

"I thought you didn't like Marco like that," she referred to a conversation the two had had a few weeks back where Amy made it clear that she did not feel at all that way about their mutual friend. She couldn't blame her for assuming that either. Amy had only two friends, and they both knew that. If it you had asked her yesterday, Amy would have told you it was impossible that she would kiss a stranger by the end of the night.

"I don't. It was someone I met at the party. I kissed a guy I met there," Amy bit her lip to keep from beaming.

"Oh _screw you_ ," Kylie emphasized. "I was actually worried about you for a second. And don't insult my intelligence. Next time you try and trick me, at least make the lie semi-believable." Her roommate stood up to fix herself some breakfast since she assumed the conversation was over.

"I'm not kidding! And if I was trying to trick you, I would pick something more believable. But I'm not, because it actually happened. I wouldn't make up something so ludicrous," Amy insisted. She couldn't think of a possible motivation that she would have to lie about something like this.

"A likely story," Kylie nodded her head while her tone contained utter distrust. "I'll believe it when I see it." Amy rolled her eyes, realizing that it wasn't possible to convince her with mere words. She understood why Kylie didn't believe her, but she didn't need to be such a jerk about it.

"You should go out like this more often. Bed head is a good look for you," Amy said sarcastically motioning to the birds nest that was her roommates hair.

Kylie just stuck out her tongue.

* * *

Jake:

_Good morning_

_*afternoon_

_Just woke up. Still half asleep._

_How's it going?_

Amy:

_Swell. Get in some good rest?_

J:

_You don't know the half of it_

Amy had been more or less waiting for him to wake up for hours, though she supposed that if he slept in till 2 PM, he really need the sleep. She wanted to tell him the annoyance that Kylie didn't believe that he was real, but she realized that would be show how truly lame she was. There wasn't any reason a friend wouldn't believe someone kissed someone unless that person was a total loser who never did anything exciting or unpredictable. She knew that she was a loser, but she didn't want to absolutely prove it to Jake. But, as always, she did the stupid thing.

A:

_My roommate doesn't believe you exist_

Jake sent her back a picture of himself that he had evidently just taken. He was upside down, hanging off what she assumed was the side of his bed with a huge grin and a peace sign. His hair was all fussed up in the hottest way possible and his drowsiness was still written all across his face.

J:

_Even photoshop has nothing on nature when she created this beautiful mug._

_Tell her I said hi._

_Or hello._

_Or salutations. Whichever will make the best impression._

_Is that what salutations means? I can only remember watching Charlotte's web in 4th grade so well._

_Hell, might as well go with seasons greetings._

Amy laughed at the last suggestion seeing as how it was late August in the middle of a heat wave. She called her roommate over and showed her Jake's picture, and Kylie's eyes widened as she finally began to believe her.

"Tell him you have to go," Kylie ordered. "Because we are about to have a very in depth discussion."

* * *

"You met him for the first time last night? And you kissed him? You initiated it?"

"Yes," Amy repeated for the third and hopefully the last time.

"You scandalous whore," Kylie said in mock shock. She and Amy both knew that she had gone a lot further with people after knowing them for only an hour. She had taken a seat across from Amy on the other end of the couch after informing the latter to get comfortable, because they were going to be there for a while.

"Oh shut up," Amy laughed. "You want me to tell you what happened?" She asked, and Kylie nodded vigorously.

So Amy told her everything that happened the night before. Well, all the events. She left out all of her inner turmoil and tangled emotions. She couldn't keep a smile off her face when she described all of Jake's actions, and their conversations, and especially their kiss.

"And why didn't you ever tell me liking someone felt this good?" Amy finished. She never realized what she had been missing out on before. Just how giddy she felt, this whole range of feelings that she never even knew were an option.

"What do you mean? I thought you'd had a boyfriend before. What's different?"

"Yeah, years ago. And I never felt anything like this. No where even close."

"Tell me about it," Kylie asked, obviously trying to ferret something out, but Amy had no idea what. She felt a little self conscious about telling her friend about the muddled mess of all her confusion, but she went ahead with it anyway.

So Amy told about how it felt like she was flying. And she couldn't stop thinking about him, and she couldn't stop smiling when she did. And how he made her heart race. And how last night was easily in the top five nights of her life.

"Oh sweetie," Kylie said consolingly when Amy finally stopped talking. She placed her hand on Amy's arm in a sympathetic move. "You're too far gone."

"What? What are you talking about?" Amy asked having absolutely would make Kylie say that. Her friend gave her a pitying smile.

"You're in love."

* * *

Things went great with Jake all week. They messaged back and forth and she actually managed to come across as a normal person, something she could rarely pull off. She even succeeded to act normal when she accepted that she probably was in love with him. She didn't want to believe it at first, but eventually she had to admit that it was the most likely scenario. Before, Amy didn't believe you could fall in love with someone in a single night. Truthfully, she wasn't even sure she believed in love. At least not like that. She'd had crushes before, but she assumed that that was what people were talking about when they said the word love. She thought that movies and books that described anything more than that were just exaggerating. But now she knew she was wrong.

So everything was going fantastic. Until Friday. All because Jake sent her a simple text.

Jake:

_I want to see you again_

She should have been ecstatic. And a part of her was. But she couldn't ignore her growing sense of apprehension.

They had built up a great rapport, but she wasn't so sure that would transfer back over to the next time they meet in person. She kept thinking about those couples who met online and had great chemistry when the messaged, but when they meet in person for the first time and it's just awkward. No spark. And yeah, she and Jake had met in person first, and that night had gone really well, but she was still worried. She told him she wanted to too, which actually wasn't a lie. Everything she felt when it came to him was so conflicting. She was just left begging the universe for mercy to let it all go well.

* * *

J:

_Where do people even go on dates these days?_

A:

_I like how you think I'd know._

* * *

It didn't take him long to figure out what he wanted to do, but he was especially secretive about it. All he would tell her was a place and a time. A golf course at 11 PM that Saturday. Amy felt a little bad that the Emerald Course was closer to her than it was to him, but she didn't complain in case that would make him change his mind. She was way too curious to risk that. The course was about 45 minutes away from her, but she would still describe it as out in the middle of no where. She assumed Jake was just using it as a landmark for a meeting place, but there really was nothing around there that was worth doing. She was still anxious about how it would go, but her excitement at the mystery grew with every passing second.

* * *

She drove into the parking lot 30 minutes early. She always arrived at places early, but the only reason she was there half an hour before she needed to be was the fact that she was going to pace a whole in the floor if she stayed at her dorm any longer. She had expected to have to wait a while for him to get there, so she was surprised to see him already waiting when she parked.

Jake was leaning against the chain link fence seeming completely at ease, holding one of those flashlights shaped like a lantern. His demeanor was that of casual indifference, and she was even more aware of just how worked up she was.

He looked exactly like every stereotypical bad boys in those cheesy 80s movies that you could tell was the cool kid because he was smoking a cigarette and completely apathetic. One of those boys who was an absolute jerk at the beginning of the movie until he gets his act straight and the audience starts rooting for him to get the girl.

And, in this situation, Amy was the girl.

She took a deep breath and got out of her car. When he saw that it was her, his whole face lit up. Gone was the aloof appearance he had on just moments before, replaced with childish delight. She knew at that moment that she had nothing to worry about. All the doubts that had plagued her before where completely baseless.

"Where are we going?" She asked when she reached him.

"Here," Jake told her as he patted the fence behind him. The fence that was a good 10 feet tall, and the gate a few feet away was padlocked. She hoped he didn't expect her to climb it.

"Don't worry, I've got a key," he assured her seeing the look on her face.

"Are we supposed to be here?" Amy whispered like someone would overhear them. The whole course was dark, the only light coming from the lantern and and the few streetlamps that lined the parking lot.

"Not at all," Jake grinned as he lead her through the gate. She knew it was stupid, and that they would get in so much trouble if they were caught, and that it was technically illegal. It was absolutely and incredibly stupid. She knew that. Still, she followed him in.

"Where'd you get the key?" Amy asked after they had been walking for a minute or so. She wasn't sure if he had a particular destination of the course picked out or if he just planned on walking the whole time. The lantern illuminated a radius of a couple feet around them so she wasn't in any danger of tripping, but she still kept her eyes on her feet to make sure she didn't stumble over a stray rock.

"One of Gina's many hidden talents slash neurotic tendencies is her kleptomania. She has keys to all over the city, and we have no clue how she got half of them. Seriously. She has keys to our old high school, two of the three libraries in town, almost every restaurant, and she even has a master key to city hall. She could bring down the whole town in a night if she wanted to."

"What if someone comes?"

"No one will. Each of us come up here every once in a while when we need to get away from everyone else in existence. This place is abandoned from 6 PM to 9 AM," Jake guaranteed.

Amy considered what he said. It was pretty obvious that this was a secret place, and the fact that he was showing her felt like a privilege. He described it like this was a place he only came alone, and she was the only exception. Which was highly unlikely, because this was a great place to impress a girl. Amy was very impressed.

"And there we are," Jake informed her as he pointed to a light on the ground a ways away. As they neared it, she realized that it was another lantern that he had set close to a blanket he had apparently spread out earlier. When they reached it, he turned off the lantern in his hands a laid across the far side of the blanket with his hands behind his head.

"The stars are nice," he nodded up at the sky.

She hadn't even noticed that night, but when she looked up she had to agree that they were beautiful. The sky was lit up exactly like the last time she was with him. She wasn't sure she would ever get tired of looking at them. She laid down beside him and stared back up at the constellations. Their shoulders were probably only a couple of inches away from each other, and all she wanted to do was reach out and make contact, but she contained her impulse.

"You come out here with people often?" Amy asked. She wasn't trying to insinuate anything, but she needed to figure out what he meant by getting away.

"Nah. I haven't even been out here with the other guys. Just me," he answered. And Amy had no idea what that meant, if it meant anything at all. She was the first person he brought here. She was pretty sure that meant something, something important, though she didn't know what that something was.

They stayed there in silence for some time. But it was a good, comfortable silence. It was nice, just lying there and... experiencing. Just letting things be.

"You're awfully quiet," she noted. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit... nervous, y'know?"

Amy scoffed at that.

"I'm sure you've dated tons of girls before. What in the world do you have to be nervous about? Shouldn't you used to it by now?" The idea that he would have any reason at all to be nervous was absurd.

"I wouldn't say tons of girls..." he disputed, avoiding the actual point of her question.

"More than five?" She offered as a definition for tons, in this case at least. He made a noncommittal sound that she knew was a yes. "So what could you possibly be worried about?"

Jake was quiet for another moment, and she wasn't sure if he was trying to form an answer or if he just wasn't going to answer her at all.

"If anyone tells you they're not nervous, they're lying. Everyone's nervous. Unless they don't care about the relationship one way or the other," he informed her. "So yeah, I'm nervous."

"I think I know a way to distract you," Amy told him. It was odd how comfortable she was, and actually even confident. She was never confident, even if it was something she knew how to deal with, like math problems or something. And she had absolutely no idea how to deal with people. So the confidence was new, but very welcome.

"Yeah?" Jake indulged her while still staring at the stars.

She more than enjoyed the surprised look on his face when she suddenly rolled on top of him, replacing the constellations in his vision with her eyes. He looked at her like she was insane.

"Yeah," she whispered as she brought her lips to his.

And this kiss was just as good as the last ones, if not better. They weren't confined to the frame of his car and didn't have to contend with a stick shift in between them. It was just them. Amy and Jake. She pulled at his lower lips with her teeth until he finally acquiesced and parted them. Her tongue roamed every inch of his mouth as she savored his taste, trying to memorize every bit about him even though she knew her memory could never do him justice.

His hands moved out from behind his head to wrap around her shoulders and press her further to him, and she felt like his palms could burn holes into her skin- simply from the fact that every point of connection between their bodies was blazing.

She pulled back when she was practically gasping for air. He wasn't much better off judging from the quick and dramatic rise and fall of his chest. His eyes were closed for far too long when all she wanted to see were his coffee colored irises.

"God, you're gorgeous," he breathed when he finally opened them. His pupils were dilated and he was looking at her like she was the 8th wonder of the world. She was never going to become accustomed to the way he looked at her. Like she was something important.

Jake slowly sat up, careful to support her until she was effectively sitting in his lap. She dipped her head down to join her lips to his again. Before she knew it the back of his shirt was bunched up in her fists, and she couldn't have released her grasp even if she tried. His fingers trailed their way up her back and she realized that if she thought his hands through her shirt were burning, then on her bare skin they were searing.

He ghosted his lips down her neck, pausing to suck and nibble hear and there. When his nips got just the slightest bit harsher she let out a completely involuntary moan. She stretched her throat away to grant him better access which he quickly took advantage of. She was digging her nails into his back when she had a sudden shot of clarity of what they were doing and where they were. She pulled back much to Jake's obvious dismay.

"We are _so_ not having sex on the first date in the middle of a golf course," she asserted. Her comment seemed to bring him back to reality with the sudden realization. He looked around them like he had forgotten where they were, and she couldn't blame him for getting a little lost in the moment.

"Yeah," he slowly agreed as if he was having trouble to form a single thought. "Yeah... Wasn't expecting to. Got a little carried away. Sorry."

"S'okay. I did too," she admitted. Neither of them were really sure what to do at that point so they both just went with silence. "Wanna head back?" Amy suggested, and Jake gave her a single nod.

She attempted to get off of him in the least awkward way possible, but she didn't think she succeeded. He picked up the lantern and blanket in a single hand, while she took the second one. On the walk back he carried himself like he thought he did something wrong, so Amy interlaced her fingers with his to show him everything was okay.

They made it back to their cars and Amy thought they were about to part ways. But she didn't want to leave things like this. Things were okay, but she didn't want to leave it as okay. She wanted to leave it as good, or great, or fantastic.

"I'm not really like this," Amy said suddenly. The had both loaded up the supplies into Jake's trunk, so her hands were free to wring themselves until they hurt.

"Huh?" He asked, not knowing where she was coming from. Hell, even she didn't know where she was coming from. Or going. She had no clue what her next words were going to be.

"I don't get you. Or myself. I'm usually pretty consistent, but around you I never know what's happening. And it's weird. You're weird. In a good way. But still a weird way. I mean, you're normal, I'm weird. I'm weird around you. Or like I'm always weird, and I'm actually kinda normal around you, but that's not the point. I mean it's just... You." Amy was staring at her twisting hands too afraid to look him in the eyes, but not sane enough to stop rambling. "I always suck around people, I can count on that, but with you... You're an outlier." She was positive that she should stop there, because she was just saying the wrong things. She sounded psychotic, and creepy, and like a total freak. She needed to shut up and take a deep breath, but she couldn't stop rambling. "It took me months to be comfortable giving Marco a hug, and I had to live with Kylie for two weeks before I even said more than a few sentences to her, but I kissed you. I didn't even know you for five hours and I freaking kissed you. And it was wonderful. This is wonderful. You're wonderful." She paused for a moment to inhale, then when right back to it. "But that's not the only reason I'm here. Because I can function like half a normal person in your presence. Because you're great. You're really really great. And even if I had to bring a paper bag to breathe the next time I saw you, I would still be here. So I don't meant to-"

She hadn't even noticed Jake's hands on her face until he pressed his lips to hers. She didn't know how much longer she could last if she felt like she was gonna have a heart attack every time he kissed her. There wasn't any of the urgency or franticness they had only minutes ago, just gentle and soothing.

Her response was effortless, she didn't even have to think to move her lips to his simple and soft pace.

When he pulled back he had the sweetest smile on his face that she easily returned. He watched her with keen eyes as he tried to gauge if he had made a mistake by her reaction. Which, of course, he didn't.

"I want you to know I'm nervous too," Amy confessed. At the slight look of confusion on his face, she elaborated to remind him of their earlier conversation. "I'm nervous too. I want this to go well. But it's the good kind of nervous. Like the butterflies in your stomach kind of nervous, not the panic attack kind of nervous. And even better than last time I saw you, even though it was still weird," she admitted. "Like usually when I meet new people it's like 99% anxiety and like 1% me trying to calm myself down so I don't have a panic attack, so nothing really good in there. And when I first met you it was like 60% anxiety, and 30% butterflies, and 10% total confusion- which is actually kinda a big deal when it comes to me. But it's even better than last time now."

"I liked that you seemed more comfortable around me," Jake said with a touch of embarrassment. "Wait... does that mean I almost gave you a panic attack?"

"Maybe. Not really. I mean, sort of," she tried to sidestep the question, but he waited patiently for her answer. "Like sometimes I feel like I can't breathe around you, but it's the best breathlessness in existence."

"So where am I at now?" Jake asked, and this time it was her turn to be confused.

"Huh?"

"The levels. Percentages," he clarified.

"Uh..." Amy started, trying to accurately gauge how she was feeling. "Probably 60% butterflies, and 30% total confusion, and 10% anxiety." He considered her scoring, and she chastised herself. She really should have just told a white lie or something, or at least left out the anxiety part. She needed to stop saying stupid stuff around him. There was just something about him that made her default setting as honest, which was never a good thing with her. But she really did like being truthful with him, even if it was a stupid thing to do.

"Guess we're gonna have to start working on getting that anxiety to 0, huh?" Jake grinned. She was sure that it was impossible for the night to get any better than it was at that moment. She didn't have any words for how truly happy she felt.

"Are we dating?" Amy asked. "Like boyfriend girlfriend exclusive dating?"

"I hope so," Jake said.

"Me too. Let's do that."

"Yes ma'am," he saluted her. She couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

They both got in their respective cars, and he tried to wait for her to leave first, but Amy waved him off. She just needed to sit for a while and just exist. She rested her head on the steering wheel and took a several deep breaths in. Tonight was perfect. She had no idea what she ever did to deserve something so amazing. She was sure that she didn't deserve him, and knew that some sort of cosmic mix up must have happened to lead her to him. And she was so thankful it did.


	3. Meet the roommate

"So tell me about her."

"No."

"Just tell me about her."

"No, Charles! I am not going to tell you anything about her cause the moment I do you're gonna scamper off and gossip with the other two. I'm not saying a word. My lips are sealed," Jake mimed zipping up his lips, locking them, and then throwing away the key.

He was regretting telling Charles anything at that moment. All he said was 'I met a girl' but, as he should have known, that was too much. Charles had been harassing him all morning to hear some details and there was no way Jake was giving them up. His friend couldn't keep a secret at all. Not that he wanted to keep Amy a secret, he just wanted to wait until the last possible moment so his friends wouldn't be able to hassle him anymore than necessary. He also didn't want them screwing everything up so soon, because there was an awful good chance that he would manage to do that by himself. And it was all kinds of hot to have a mystery girlfriend that no one knew about.

So that's what led to that moment, with Jake trying to finish some classwork on his computer and Boyle sitting on his bed and pelting him with whatever he could grab. Jake was hoping he would run out of objects that were in his hands reach (especially after the third shoe) but when he turned around Jake saw that he had brought about 2 lbs worth of peanuts.

"Jakey-" Charles whined piteously. "I am your best friend! You _have_ to tell me stuff like this! You've _always_ told me stuff like this! What's so different this time?"

"She's different," Jake responded easily, without even thinking about it. He realized that he actually should have thought about it when he sees his friends raised eyebrows.

"Well, if you don't tell me about her I'm going to 'scamper off' to 'the other two' and sing like a canary how Jake has a secret and aren't they just dying to know." He used air quotations around Jake's choice of words with a huge smile on his face. Charles wasn't diabolical often, but when he set his mind to it, he could pull it off.

"You're the worst best friend in the world," Jake told him earnestly. When he didn't start talking, Boyle got up and began to walk out of the room, calling their roommates names in a sing-song voice.

"Wait!" Jake shouted. Charles ran back in and sat on his bed with an eager smile on his face. Jake knew the walking out thing had been an act, but if he held out any longer, Boyle might just follow through on his threat. Besides, he figured it might actually be nice to tell someone about Amy.

"She's..." he began, trying to find the right words, and knew he never could. "She's amazing. Just everything about her is so great, and she doesn't even realize. And she's brilliant. Probably has an IQ higher than all 4 of us combined. And we can talk, like really talk, and she always makes me forget everything else that's happening. And everything will be going great, until I notice how great it's going and I start worrying about if I'm gonna screw it up, but before I do, she always makes me forget again. She's just- eugh! Why are you making that face at me?" He gave a disgusted look to his friend, who had completely broken his train of thought. He was pretty sure Charles was trying to make a lovey-dovey face, but he was failing hard.

"That was the most romantic thing I've ever heard," Charles cooed.

"Was not. And don't tell anyone I said that," Jake added in for good measure. He didn't think he said anything romantic, but he definitely didn't want Boyle passing it on.

"Oh, I'm going to tell everyone," Charles assured him, not even an ounce of guilt written on his delighted face.

"What? Charles! I trusted you!"

"I know, and you really shouldn't have. One would think you would have learned that by now-" Charles ducked his head out of the door way just in time to dodge a flying shoe.

"You've been demoted! You're not my best friend anymore! You're my worst acquaintance! Because you don't even deserve to be my enemy!" Jake hollered out after him.

Then he sighed and got back to work, thankful at least for the peace and quiet.

* * *

Jake:

_What's your roommates name again?_

Amy:

_Kylie_

Jake:

_Can I meet her?_

Amy:

_Can I meet your roommates?_

Jake:

_Sure, but I asked first_

Amy:

_…_

_…_

_Okay_

* * *

Jake had absolutely no problem with her meeting the guys, but he thought if he waited it out for a bit they would forget that they had been making fun of him and therefore wouldn't tell Amy what he said. He wasn't exactly embarrassed, cause that was an immature thing to be embarrassed about.

Okay, he was a little embarrassed.

But he decided that if someone was going to tell Amy what he said, he wanted it to be him. If he ever got around to telling her, that is.

* * *

Amy met him outside her dorm Saturday afternoon more than a little antsy. She was wearing just a T shirt and jeans, but he had a feeling she could manage to make even a paper bag look sexy. She walked him into her dorm and he took her hand to hopefully calm her down.

"You seem nervous. Worried I'll make a bad impression?" Jake asked in a jokey manner.

"There's a nonzero chance that she won't like you," Amy said.

"I barely passed statistics. Is that a good thing? Or is it just your way of being nice?" He still had a smile on his face, but her being on edge was starting to put him on edge.

"I'm totally, completely, absolutely, positively sure that she'll probably like you," she rushed through the last few words.

"Good," he sighed, then realized what she had tried to skip over. "Hey-"

"And here's my room," Amy pointed to a door a couple feet away and lead him in.

* * *

"Sweet digs," Jake told her when they walked in. "Much bigger than the ones they have on TV." And it totally was. He didn't know what kind of dorm room had it's own kitchen, and branched off into several separate rooms, but apparently this was one of those. He realized that Amy's parents must be loaded. Which he probably should have realized the moment he found out she went to Georgetown. This place was practically an apartment.

"Is that him?" A girl called in an innocent voice from the other room, that sounded like the fakest thing Jake had ever heard. Said girl came bounding to the front door with a friendly smile on her face, but a look of complete distrust buried just underneath it.

"This is Jake, my..." Amy trailed off unable to finish the sentence, so he finished it for her.

"Boyfriend. Jake. Jake boyfriend. Boyfriend Jake. Like James Bond, but not. It is not in anyway like James Bond. So you must be Kylie!" He ended enthusiastically while he held out his hand. Kylie shook it disdainfully, and Amy glared at her.

"And be forewarned, my main goal here is to impress you so you won't be upset Amy's dating me, and I have a tendency to embellish. So know that if I say that I am a civil engineer pirate who's only taking a short break from plundering villages and taking oh so much gold, it is a slight exaggeration. I don't really have that much gold," Jake said as suavely as he could. He was pretty good with social situations, but this was a whole new ball game. He's had to deal with parents before, but that wasn't too much of a problem. If a family member didn't like him, it was never too big of a deal because when you're young, you don't care what your family thinks is best for you. He'd had girls date him specifically to spite their parents. But a best friend was different. People actually listen to their friends and value their input, so he was going all out in this.

"That's a shame. A civil engineer pirate would have been awfully impressive," Kylie said shaking her head mournfully.

"I knew I shouldn't have led off with that," he smiled. And Kylie smiled back.

"Well don't just stand there all day! Why don't you come in?" Kylie asked, turning her back and walking further into the dorm.

Jake looked back at Amy.

"Going well?" he whispered hopefully.

Amy gave him 2 thumbs up.

* * *

Jake and Kylie actually got along well, which wasn't surprising once he figured out they were both pretty outgoing people. In a different situation they probably could have been friends, but he had a feeling that she considered him her arch nemesis. Which wasn't too bad, because it was obvious that she was very protective of Amy, which was definitely a good thing. She was definitely someone who needed protecting, so he wasn't too upset about it. Jake figured he would just have to slowly shimmy his way into her good graces.

Maybe 15 minutes into their conversation, Amy went from looking pleased as punch to somewhat uncertain, her hands playing with the hem of her shirt. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but didn't know if he should do that in front of her friend.

"Crap. It's already 4," Kylie said when she looked at the clock. "I didn't think you'd stay this long." She took a long look at Jake, then at the clock, then back to Jake, and lastly at Amy. "Okay, I'm leaving to see a movie with Sam, but I don't want you trying anything," She said, the last part directed solely at Jake who she shook a finger at. She rushed around the place picking up several mismatched shoes until she found a correct pair, slipped them on, and then rushed out the door.

"Seriously, Jake. Don't you dare take advantage of her, because I will hunt you down!" Kylie yelled as she closed the door behind her.

* * *

The moment the door was shut, Jake let out a sigh of relief as he collapsed back into the chair he was sitting in.

"Thank god that's over with," he said, not at all trying to hide his relief that they were out of that situation.

"Don't you like talking to people?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. She was standing with her hand on her hip, and god, her doubtful look was hot.

"Not when I could be talking to you. Which is pretty much 90% of my days now, so talking has been a little trying lately," he told her, and a blush spread across his face. It was all true, he always wanted to be talking with her, but half of him did say that sentence solely cause he knew it would make her blush.

"Now, you have to show me your room," Jake declared, as if it was some rule or schedule he was reading out of a handbook.

"Uh... let's not do that. Like something else. Something decidedly not that," Amy stumbled, which made his curiosity increase by at least 200%. He couldn't imagine what she didn't want him to see. Was she a secret punk kid that had posters lining her red walls? Or like 50 pictures of her childhood pets? A wrestle mania altar?

"You might as well show me now, cause I am not leaving without seeing it," he taunted, making his determination clear. She gave him a long hard look, but she sighed and motioned with her hand to follow once she was sure he wasn't going to back down. So he followed her into a room that was immediately obvious why she didn't want him to see it.

"How long have you been living here?" He asked.

"About a year."

"And when do you plan on moving out?"

"Not anytime soon."

It looked like a hotel room. Like a really shitty hotel room that didn't even spring for the paintings at the dollar store. There was a bed, a nightstand (with a light and alarm clock on it), a desk with a computer, and bookcases lined with books. But that was it. Nothing remotely personal in it. No clutter, no notes or pictures tacked on the walls, no bits and bobbles on the desk, nothing that would signify it was even occupied.

"If I check that nightstand, am I gonna find a bible?" Jake inquired, and she rolled her eyes.

"No!" He gasped. "Tell me you don't make your bed every morning. You do, don't you? With these grandma sheets?" He pounced on her bed and turned around to grin at her. "Wanna mess em up?" He waggled his eyebrows.

She didn't take him up on his offer, or even really smile at the joke.

"What went wrong?" He asked, completely serious for once.

"Huh?"

"Back there. What went wrong? I thought it was going pretty well until you started looking upset. So what happened? Did I say something?" When she didn't respond, he added in an "I'm sorry."

"No, you didn't do anything. It went great," Amy sighed. Jake twirled his hand in a circle to signal her to keep talking.

"I'm not good with people. Or guys. And Kylie is. I don't know. I guess I was half afraid you would want to start dating her instead of me," she confessed.

Jake had absolutely no idea how she could think of herself like that. It was astounding that she couldn't see how amazing and wonderful and beautiful she was. He didn't know how he could convince her of that, be he decided then and there that it would be his life goal. Help Amy really see herself.

"Now that is some straight up crazy talk," he declared, then waved her over with his hand. "Come here."

She was hesitant at first, but eventually she sat down in front of him with her back to him. She leaned against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, content to breathe her in. He tried not to get caught up her hair that smelled like strawberry shampoo, or the warmth of every part of her, and just how intoxicating it was being so close to her- because he needed to tell her something important.

"One day, you're gonna see how fantastic you are. And you're gonna be hella pissed that you didn't wait for someone better, cause I'm not gonna let you go." He whispered into her ear, and heard her hum in agreement when he kissed her on the cheek.

"You think so?" She obliged him.

"I know so."

* * *

"If someone murdered you, they would have no idea how to build a profile of the killer based on you," Jake told her as he motioned around her room. It was unreal how impersonal it was, not to mention the orderliness. If he had to guess what type of person Amy was based on her room, he wouldn't even be able to give a guess, since it was basically a catalogue. But it was nice sitting on her bed with her head against his chest, wrapped in his arms. One of his hands fiddled with the ends of her hair, twisting back and forth again, and he knew he would never be content to let her go again. He had never seen Amy so relaxed as she was in that moment, and he was definitely proud to witness, and even play a part in it.

"Seriously, book case after book case," he waved his hands across her walls, "Filled with text books- analytics, trigonometry, sociology, and- Oh my god! Is that a copy of mein kampf? Are you a secret Nazi?" Jake shouted as he pointed to a corner.

"What? Where?" Amy shot up from her relaxed position. It wasn't until she looked where he was pointing (a blank wall) and he started laughing that she realized it was all a joke.

"I don't know why I believed you. I've never even read it," she settled back into him with a huff while his chest was still reverberating with laughter.

"You were one of those kids who checked the ceiling for gullible, weren't you?" He chuckled as he tightened his grip around her in case she tried to move away again from his teasing.

"You were one of those kids who told people gullible was written on the ceiling, weren't you?" She quipped.

"Oh, definitely. Even the teachers fell for this angel face."

And Amy laughed. He realized he would do anything to make her laugh again. And that realization didn't bother him at all.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is much shorter than the other chapters, since I kinda rushed it out. I didn't plan on making any of the chapters of this from Jake's perspective, but it was requested so I did. Let me know if you guys liked it and if I should do more from his perspective. I also didn't plan on making Amy especially rich, but I kinda boxed myself in when I described her dorm room in the previous chapter. Was it easy to tell that I have never set foot in one?
> 
> Hope you guys have a good day :)


	4. You make me forget

Kylie had been pestering Amy ever since she got home, which was a good hour ago. She reigned herself in until Amy told her that Jake had made fun of her room (which she was hoping to get an encouragement on how her room really wasn't that bad, even though they both knew that wasn't true). Instead she got grilled about if he pressured her (to which Amy had to assure her that he didn't, and that he was sweet and respectful, and that she was an adult who could make her own decisions, and that she was totally overreacting) but then she had to assure Kylie that she wasn't lying about it because she thought Kylie was overreacting (because she wouldn't accept that she really was). After a while she had finally calmed her roommate down, but she could still see the suspicion in her eyes.

“He's charming,” Kylie admitted while she fanned her face with her hand. “Almost sets my heart aflutter, and he doesn't even look at _me_ like that,” Implying that Jake looked a certain way at Amy that she had just never noticed before. “I can't imagine what he does to you,” she added with a lewd voice.

Amy just rolled her eyes. She was too busy trying to remember the way Jake looked at her (and if there really was anything different than with other people) so she didn't deem it with a response.

* * *

 

“Can I borrow your car on Saturday?” Marco asked in his sweetest voice with puppy dog eyes, but Amy knew she couldn't trust him.

“How do I know you won't ruin it? Might I remind you the reason your car is in the shop right now?” She reasoned, and knew she had him on that point. He was never good with cars, but his most recent screw up had been the worst when he reversed the jumper cables which luckily only caught on fire and decimated his battery. She was quick to remind him that it could have been a lot worse, besides giving him the regular hassle.

“Louisa's coming, and she'll make sure I don't screw up your piece of junk car. Seriously Amy, you need a new one. You've had it since before my youngest sister was born, and she's 10 now. But you know Louisa is the responsible one in my family, so you're awful car will be safe. _Please_ Amy.”

She knew he meant well, so she had to give in to his absolutely pitiful puppy dog eyes.

“You owe me. And I will come after you if you do any damage whatsoever. Don't make me regret this.”

Marco promised he wouldn't, and she should have know that that would turn out to be a lie.

* * *

 

Her and Jake's telephone conversations seemed to get longer and longer each day. He always tried to work around her schedule and swore that he tried to get up early to talk to her in the morning (which she didn't doubt) but his sleeping schedule refused to comply. It was a blessing and a curse for him to go to online school, and at least part of the reason he stayed up so late was because he knew he could sleep in as late as he wanted. Jake swore that the fault lied in his circadian rhythm (his choice of words were 'that brain body thing that says “Nah, you stayed up late two nights in a row and this is your life now').

He seemed pretty reluctant to let her meet his friends, but eventually she found the courage to ask him about it.

“Why do you not want me to meet your friends so much? Afraid they won't like me?” Amy tried to play it off as a joke, and hoped that her voice didn't betray her. If they were talking in person, he would instantly realize how serious that question was, and how afraid she was of the answer.

“No...” Jake sighed, and she knew he was running his hand through his hair at that moment. “I'm just prolonging it because they tend not to make the best impression, and I wanted to wait until you had more reasons to ignore what a deal breaker they are.”

She didn't know how to express how ridiculous of an idea that was, because she was positive that if they were his friends that meant they were good people. She wanted to tell him not to worry, but instead the only words that came out of her mouth were “I really want to kiss you right now.”

She knew he was about to respond before someone yelled out on the other side of the phone loud enough for her to here.

“Hey sleeping beauty! Today's your day for cleaning!”

“I know! Patience is a virtue!” Jake yelled back to the person addressing him. He had moved the receiver away from his mouth and had likely put a hand over it, but it didn't do much.

“Sleeping beauty?” Amy asked with a huge grin when she knew she had his attention back.

“Rosa thinks it's an insult, but I take it as a compliment.”

* * *

 

When Marco returned her car she did a preliminary check and took it around the block, but everything seemed to be in order. Seemed being the operative word.

* * *

 

Amy supposed she should be glad her car lasted as long as it did. She was on her way to meet Jake's roommates when it gave up on her. She was only about 25 minutes away from Hudson, and luckily she had enough warning from the steam coming from under her hood to pull off to the side of the road before it all gave out on her. She mentally screamed expletives when she popped the hood and it became clear that her car wasn't going anywhere. She pulled out her phone and tried not to yell at the person who she knew caused the whole thing.

“Marco, what did you do.” She seethed, and it was clear that it was a statement and not a question.

“What? Nothing? What are you talking about?”

“You know what I'm talking about. I'm on the side of the road because my car is smoking. So what. Did. You. do.”

“I may have driven half an hour on the freeway in first gear,” Marco tried to play it off as if it was no big deal, but he knew exactly how much trouble he was in.

“What happened to Louisa watching you? Why didn't you tell me?” She tried to keep her voice steady, but her effort didn't seem to do much good.

“Okay, first of all, your car sucks. Like every automatic car from this century has a warning light that flashes when you screw up, which yours didn't, so me and Louisa didn't know what to look for. I didn't tell you because I looked it up on yahoo answers and everybody said it wasn't a big deal, so I didn't want you to get mad for no good reason.”

“You're an adult. You do _not_ make important decisions from advice on yahoo answers. And now I am pissed at you for a _very_. _Good_. _Reason_.”

* * *

 

She was more than happy to accept a ride from Jake because just being near him calmed her down. She hoped it wasn't obvious how nervous she was. Of course it was Amy who had been pestering him to set up a meeting, and she really did want to meet his roommates, but it was easy to plan to do that days in advance when she was 2 hours away. Now that it was actually a reality, she remembered how horrible she was with people. The wonderful thing about her boyfriend (it still felt strange calling him that, even in her own head) was that he made her feel normal for once. But it was always jarring to be brought back into reality where she had crippling social anxiety and could not handle anything like this.

“What are they like?” Amy asked, hoping she might be able to prepare herself a little bit more, even though she was sure it was no use.

“I think the only word to describe Rosa is intimidating. When she's at her absolute happiest, the only way you can tell is because she's not frownin. But she's actually a good person even though she'll try everything she can to hide it. Charles is the human version of a dog with separation anxiety that tears apart the house when you're away and but when you get home he's so happy to see you that you can't stay mad at him for long. He's definitely the nicest out of all of us, and maybe even one of the nicest guys in the world. He's been begging me to meet you more than you have. And Gina... she's the one I worry about the most.” He took a deep breath and looked around the car like someone could be listening in, and then leaned and whispered conspiratorially in her ear “I secretly think she's the smartest one of us all.”

Amy couldn't help but laugh. She was expecting to hear something at least semi serious by the way he phrased the transition, but definitely not that.

“I'm serious though. I've got evidence, even though it's all circumstantial as of yet. She comes off as self absorbed and the bad kind of crazy, but I think it's all an act. She changes her major every few weeks, but she always keeps her minor in forensic science with us, and her score never goes below a 73 or above a 75. I mean, that's gotta take effort, right? That kind of precision? It's like she's a secret genius who's orchestrating her bad grades for some unimaginable reason. Because it's easy keep your grade up when you always get good grades, but when you're always that close to failing and your grade barely wavers no matter what happens, that has to been intentional. And when none of us get a concept we all go to her and she explains it in some weird analogy about shoes or some actors twitter battles or other pop culture stuff. We usually have to google what she's talking about to find out why exactly so and so designer is fighting with such and such clothing store, but once you look up the basics, it always makes sense. And you have to actually understand something to be able to dumb it down for other people, don't you?”

* * *

 

“It's actually kinda a good thing your car broke down cause I was really hoping to talk to you first,” Jake began when they were probably 10 minutes out. The whole ride had been comfortable conversation until then, but something about the way his voice sounded made her turn to him. She gave him a hum to signal she was listening and he spoke up again.

“I said something about you to my friends, and I just want to tell you in case the repeat it.”

And with that simple sentence it was like the rug was pulled out from under her. More like the whole world was pulled out from under her. Maybe if she would have thought about it for a second she would have realized that he wouldn't do that based on what she knew of him, but it was more like a visceral reaction. From all of her previous experiences with jerks and all the other bad names in the books. All that was running through her head was that she had completely misjudged him because she never thought he would bad mouth her to his friends, or make fun of her behind her back or whatever awful thing he was going to tell her. She was running through all of her options to get out of the situation, but her mind was too cluttered to concentrate on any one thing. She could feel her panic revving up, the familiar fight or flight response, but she had never been much of a fighter. Really, her only option was running.

“You make me forget,” Jake said simply, and she almost choked. It wasn't what she was expecting, but then again she didn't even know what it meant.

“What?” Amy tried to hide the quiver in her voice. Her head was bent as she stared at her lap because she was too afraid to look at him.

“Never mind, it was just some sappy stuff,” he tried to brush off, but she couldn't let it go.

“Tell me.”

“Forget about it. It was just corny and stupid, it's not important.”

“Jake, tell me,” Amy ordered. She wasn't sure if he could hear the seriousness in her tone, or feel the gravity of the situation, or could just tell how desperate she was- but he gave in.

“I don't know. It was something like you make me forget. Like I forget anything else is happening but you. And then I might get worried that I'm gonna screw everything up, but before I do you make me forget again. Everything that's happening and everything I'm worried about... Or something like that. I told you it was stupid,” he shrugged of the end of his speech like it was unimportant, but his voice grew softer and smaller by the end, and it was obvious that he didn't think it was just nothing like he claimed.

“Did you mean it?” Amy asked with her eyes on her hands, and this time it was his turn to be surprised.

“What?”

“What you said. Did you mean it?” It took him a few seconds to respond, but it was just the right words.

“I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it.”

There was a heavy silence between them for a moment, which was broken by her yelling at hitting his shoulder as hard as possible.

“Damn it Jake! Don't do that! You scared me!” He looked at her absolutely perplexed at her stern scolding, and while trying to defend himself single handedly with the other on the wheel.

“What? I didn't think it was bad enough to deserve this reaction. I'm sorry. That's why I didn't want to tell you.” God, her boyfriend could really be an idiot sometimes.

“I thought you were insulting me to your friends,” she explained, not quite expecting his reaction.

“What? I wouldn't do that. Why would you think that?” He looked confused and maybe a bit sad, but most of all there was hurt written all over his face, like her words literally stung. And it was gut wrenching. If she would have just taken a little more time to think, she would have realized that she knew Jake better than that, and that he wouldn't hurt her. And she had just hurt him.

“I'm sorry,” Amy said, trying to work out how to make the whole thing better, because she really was the one who screwed it up. “I know you wouldn't do that. It's just... I always assume the worst because it's always been the worst. And I'm still getting used to the best with you, and when you use the most awful choice of words I kinda go into panic mode without thinking. Though, in my defense, that is what people exclusively use that phrase for. When they're talking bad about someone behind their back and they're afraid it will get back to them. That is literally the only time people use it, so at least some of this was your fault,” she tried to get back to the lighthearted place they were minutes before, and even though she couldn't tell if it was working, she placed her hand on top his his on the gear shift and was comforted by the fact that he didn't pull away.

“That's totally wrong. It's used in lots of other ways like-” and he paused trying to find anything to back up his argument, but ended up with nothing. “Oh shit, you're right. Crap. I'm sorry.”

She could tell his apology was genuine, and she just wrapped her hand around his shoulder to show him that they were okay.

“And don't be afraid to tell me stuff like that,” Amy instructed, still tracing her fingers up and down his neck and enjoying the way he leaned back the slightest bit into her touch.

“Hmmm?”

“Sappy stuff. You should always tell me stuff like that. No one's ever said sappy stuff about me before. It's nice.”

“Really? Cause I can go a lot sappier,” he said with a grin in her direction. And it was lovely to see that grin directed at her again, and she felt like she hadn't seen it in years.

“But you have to mean it!”

“Every word,” he promised as he crossed his fingers over his heart.

* * *

 

The introductions went well enough, and better than Amy expected. She found all of his descriptions pretty accurate.

Charles seemed absolutely thrilled to meet her, which was a nice contrast to Rosa's reaction. Whenever Amy offered her hand, she stared down at it with clear disapproval until she informed her that she didn't “do handshakes”. Gina seemed to be in between the other two's reaction, not overtly happy but not extremely displeased-more apathetic than anything. So it seemed to be going alright until Rosa got what was probably her version of a smirk on her face.

“Did you tell her about your test results?”

“Yeah,” Gina pipped in with a mischievous grin. “Don't you still have to call all your old girlfriends?”

She noticed Jake's jaw dropping out of the corner of her eye, even though it was more than obvious what they were doing. Kylie's version of it was moaning as loud as possible in her best imitation of a porn star when she realized Amy was on the phone with her parents or anyone from student housing. It was all Amy could do to shut her up or hide somewhere her voice wouldn't carry to.

It looked like Charles was about to join in when Jake started dragging her (in the gentlest sense of the word) down the hall and into a room. She took the few steps into it (his bedroom by the looks of it) and Jake slammed the door behind him and leaned up against it.

“I hate them. I really do. I _told_ them not to be stupid. I'm gonna kill them. I swear that's not true. They're just horrible, awful people. I'm not even going to look at them for the next 2 weeks.” Jake had developed the most adorable blush on his face that she had ever seen. He was so mortified that she almost laughed, especially when he gave her a puzzled look at her apparent random comment.

“You're cute when you're embarrassed.”

“What?”

“Your blush. It's cute,” she informed him in no uncertain terms so he was sure to get it that time. She was a few feet away from him, but it was immensely satisfying how his cheeks got pinker and pinker with every step she took closer to him, until it peaked when she lifted his hand to his face and kissed him. When Amy pulled back she was a little disappointed to find that the redness in his face had gone down, but she was sure that she would find more ways to bring it back.

“You really think you're the only one with friends who try to embarrass you at every possible chance?” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly and she turned to get a good look at his room while she had her chance. “I didn't know it was so easy to embarrass you,” she teased because she just couldn't resist.

“Shut up,” he grumbled in his best pouty voice in an attempt to sound upset, but he couldn't hide the fact that he wasn't bothered at all. And his pseudo-order gave her the perfect opening as she spun on her heals to give him a big smile and a challenge.

“Make me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized that one of the jokes in the last chapter could be misinterpreted. When Jake jokes about finding a bible in her nightstand, it was referring to how much her room was like a hotel room. In the US there's this organization that gives out free bibles to hotels (that are almost always in the drawer of the nightstand so it's unassuming) and you're hard pressed to find a hotel that doesn't have them because they're just everywhere. Does that happen in other countries too? Or with like other religious texts?  
> 


	5. Courting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy struggle to find a place where they could have some alone time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing too mature to worry about in this chapter. Like mature topic but not too explicit for the rating to need to be changed.  
> Song of the week is Fixin' by Walk the Moon.

It wasn't supposed to be this hard to secure some quality alone time when you were an adult. All of that covert stuff was supposed to have stopped whenever you moved out of your parents house. So it was a little frustrating that he and Amy had to basically sneak around.

Not even basically. He and Amy had to literally sneak around.

If they were at her place Kylie walked in every time there was more than 30 seconds of silence. He got that she was just trying to look out for Amy's best interests, so he understood and wasn't upset by it.

But all of the dicks that Jake was living with were just trying to cause him hell.

It wasn't like he was the horniest person on earth. It just sucked that they never even had enough time alone to make out, much less go to any bases. That certainly didn't stop Amy though.

Yeah, he wanted to. Of course he wanted to. But the last thing he wanted to do was rush her.

From all of Amy's people things and anxiety problems he thought this would be something that was _very_ important not to rush. And when Jake told her he thought it would be a good idea for them to take things slow (or _slower_ at least) she only had one word for him. No.

Amy said the only way she would take things down a notch was if he wanted to because they were going too fast for his own pace- and that if any part of his reasoning had anything to do with her she was going to ignore it because she wanted to speed up.

Jake wasn't trying to hold back because he was the guy and she was the girl and according to society the guy was expected to be the horny but responsible one in the sexual aspects of a relationship.

He was trying to hold back because Jake was the one who was comfortable with anything and Amy was the one who was prone to people induced panic attacks in the relationship.

So it had nothing to do with those gender role stereotypes, because if the situation was reversed and Jake was the one with people problems and Amy wasn't then she would be the one paying close attention to speed (hopefully).

But that wasn't the situation they were in. In reality Amy was the one rushing him. And he didn't think anyone had ever wanted to fuck him this bad in his life.

So when she took each interruption as a challenge to beat the clock he wasn't going to fight it. But they never even had enough time fully undress.

And when Amy laid down in no uncertain terms what she wanted to happen the night she asked him to drive out to the middle of nowhere he didn't have any objections. While Jake wasn't the horniest person on earth, he did really want to have sex with his girlfriend.

She already told him she liked the sappy stuff in terms of romantic-ness-stuff, but he wasn't sure how to do that with sex. And he wasn't the sappiest person in general, so if he even tried to do anything romantic in regards to that it was sure to be over the top or something that wasn't creative at all and some guy had already tried with her before. Jake still wanted their first time _together_ to be special though, as corny as that sounded.

But the whole night and stars thing was kinda unique to their relationship so he went with it.

Besides, he really wanted to fuck his girlfriend.

* * *

 

Amy had kinda sprung it on him whole night of, but she had obviously been planning it in advance exactly how she wanted it to go down. Condoms were basically a given for sexual situations, but when she was prepared with these long lasting light-things it was clear she had been thinking about fucking him in the middle of nowhere with no light pollution in his car that was too old to even have one of those lights on the inside of the roof.

And that led to the both of them in the back seat of his car tearing into each other under the stars.

The backseat of a car wasn't the most comfortable place in the world, but he didn't care. All he cared was that he was actually getting to kiss her for more than 30 seconds. Much longer than 30 seconds. He could barely feel how cramped they actually were. All he could feel was Amy.

“I really wanted this to go perfect. And sweet or something. But I don't know how to do sweet,” Jake confessed into the skin of her throat as he pressed kisses along the expanse. “And even if I did it wouldn't be the sweet you're used to with this kind of thing. But I really wanted to.”

Despite his words, this was going a far way from bad. It was going great, and as perfect as it could have gone. They were both shirtless and Amy was trying to fumble with his jeans, but it was harder than she had expected. They were so close. While logically he knew that if he just moved a few inches back it would be like a thousand times easier to remove things like pants that stopped them from being as close as possible, those few inches meant that they would have to separate for more than a second which he didn't want to do.

He didn't want to stop kissing her neck for more than a second, or biting her collar bone, or doing some other things with his mouth directly below her collar bone. He didn't want to stop doing any of it for more than a second. He didn't want to stop doing it for a _single_ second.

It wasn't like her struggling with his zipper was the most unpleasant feeling either.

“I've never had sweet like this. Or anything like this. So I wouldn't have anything to compare it to either way,” Amy breathed and gave up using her hand to try and work his zipper and focused on keeping it in the same area but changing her tactics so _he_ would be left with no choice but working his own zipper.

“Anything?” He asked for clarification as to what the word meant in the context.

“Sex stuff,” she elaborated, and he actually did have to pull back so he would be able to concentrate.

The thought never even crossed his mind that this would be her first time. Jake was nervous to say the least when he lost his virginity. Nervous was putting it lightly.

Amy had told him that he somehow unintentionally skirted around her anxiety regarding most of the human race (and he was thankful that it was unintentional because if he actually had to try he was sure to screw it up). And he didn't assume that would apply to the intimate aspects, so she had to tell him it did. But he did assume that because she was so restless about it that she had at least had sex before. Even people who have had sex before have some worry with a new partner And Jake had given her like 60% anxiety when he first met her (though she did say ever other person in the human race was 99% anxiety). And because she was so insistent and impatient, he just kinda assumed. Which he was regretting at the moment.

“Am I your first boyfriend?”

“No. First one this far though. Is that a problem?”

“No,” he answered immediately and went back to kissing her. But in the span of 10 seconds he went from desperate to slow until he pulled back with a sigh. Amy groaned, but it was out of frustration rather why she had been making sounds earlier.

“What are you doing?”

“Stopping.”

“Why?” She asked as if she had done something wrong. The look of confusion on her flushed face was way too adorable to be legal in all 50 states.

“Because your first time deserves to be special. Not in the back of a car.”

“I don't care. I want this.”

Jake just shook his head, and for the first time Amy actually did look worried- and it was clear she regretted telling him.

“I'm gonna do this right with you,” he insisted before he kissed her, and kept his hands on her face instead of drifting down to her not-face. “I really should have done it right with you anyway.”

It took a few moments of his steady reassuring smile for the worried look to leave her face, and even longer until she smiled back at him.

“I'm surrendering under protest because I know nothing I say is going to change your mind. Because you're sweet. And most of the time you being sweet and sappy is great, but right now it's just annoying. Even if it's not going to change your mind I'm still saying it. You're being annoyingly sweet and you're gonna have to make it up to me soon,” Amy informed him with pursed lips. He knew she wasn't actually angry, but she was frustrated. At the very least she was not a happy camper.

“I will,” Jake promised with a laugh.

While dressing each other wasn't as fun as undressing each other, it wasn't bad at all.

* * *

 

“You know, this isn't how this night was supposed to end.”

“People always say that if they could go back and change it they would, but I really would. If I could go back and make my first time anything other than the awfulness it was, I wouldn't hesitate,” Jake told her in all honesty.

Luckily the drive back wasn't weird. If the situation was described to him beforehand about any other couple he would have assumed the drive back would be awkward as hell. Even if he had the situation described to him yesterday about Amy and him, Jake would have assumed there would be at least a little bit of awkwardness.

She still felt the need to remind him how ridiculous she thought he was being throughout the whole drive back. She didn't want him to forget for a second that she thought he was overreacting and making a bigger deal out of it than he needed to. But it wasn't awkward. It was still just as easy as they always were.

“My first time tonight wasn't going to be awful anyway.”

“Well, if time travel is ever invented you can go back and make sure losing my virginity was romantic too,” Jake compromised. He was actually glad to hear her say it wasn't (going to be) awful. It didn't feel awful in the moment. And he was pretty sure it would have ended up around the scale of good to great if they had finished (or ever really started). But he wanted it to be perfect.

“Though you'd actually have to wait a few months until I turned 18. If you went back in time and said 'hey, I'm your girlfriend from the future and I'm here to stop you from having really bad sex. And if you wait a few months instead of having sex next week then I'll make sure your first time is awesome cause at your current age it's a little unethical concerning time travel regulations.' Like I might need to tell you something only I would know before you went back, but once I believed in time travel I would totally wait for you.”

“Stop it,” Amy grumbled wearing a pout when he looked over at her. “Stop being cute and funny. I'm trying to glare at you. So stop making me smile.”

She angled herself against the car door so she actually was able to glare at him without turning her head while still strapped in her seat belt. Her arms were crossed and she was trying so hard to scowl but every few seconds she would loose it and the corner of her lips would twitch upward until she recommitted herself to the worthy cause of showing displeasure.

“What did you expect to gain by saying that? Did you actually think I would stop trying to make you smile just because you told me to?”

“You're doing it again,” Amy told him like he didn't already know.

“Yup. It's intentional.”

* * *

 

Amy sighed when he insisted on her waiting for him so he could run around and open the car door for her to get out. She rolled her eyes but actually allowed herself to smile when he kissed her cheek.

“Amy Santiago, prepare to be fucking _courted_.”

 


	6. Schedule

So much for the courting.

She gave him a schedule. With a time limit to plan it out. He didn't know what would happen if he missed the dead line, but he was sure he didn't want to find out. It wasn't like he was doing it all for her benefit, he wanted it to be nice for both of them. At least a little bit nicer than the backseat of a car, and the car thing was because of awful roommates so the schedule part had a sick and twisted and incredibly normal logical sense. But Amy wouldn't even help him- she maintained she didn't care and it was all his idea and that he bit off more than he could chew.

So she gave him a schedule. A schedule of her classes and all the other stuff she had to do for him to plan around. She gave him a schedule.

What the fuck was he supposed to do with that?!

She wanted him to schedule when he was going to take her virginity. And he had no clue why that didn't even bother him. Literally no idea why. He was still what the fucking over it, but he was what the fucking over it while going along with it and planning it. How did this not turn him off? How was he attracted to this? It wasn't like he was just attracted to Amy and ignoring the weirdness for her sake.

Nope, it was all of this, all of her, even this. He didn't know how, but it didn't really matter, just that he was.

What the fuck.

With the whole scheduling thing he knew it didn’t have to be spontaneous all the time, and while technically Amy had apparently been planning the car thing before she even brought it up she didn’t tell him while she was planning and there was still a bit of a surprise in the hour drive to the middle of nowhere. But he was scheduling the first time they would have sex like two weeks in advance. That was so weird. It wasn’t like it was an actual agreement, and they’d both stop if the other wasn’t comfortable and just hang out and do non-sexual things and have fun without making the other person feel bad at all. But they both knew that the whole point of it was the sex thing, so they were operating under the assumption that it was going down unless something happened, not that it would be an innocent weekend unless they got carried away (yeah, he was the one making the plans so he chose a weekend). And so far in the scheduling process Amy had no qualms, since she was the freaking schedule giver. And while it was weird as hell for Jake, it wasn’t actually uncomfortable. The uncomfortable part was how comfortable he was with it. He knew it was crazy and from experience that normal couples did not do this kind of stuff like this, but he could acknowledge that it was insane, and that Amy was probably insane, and that he was definitely insane for not even being bothered by it.

He was pretty sure that if any girls from his past relationships suddenly dropped something like this he would be at least a little freaked out, but he was pretty sure it would be because no one he had ever dated before would ever do something like this and the suddenness would be the freaky thing. Because no one he had ever dated before were the type of people who would do something close to this, and if they were they’d basically be different people than his actual memories so it was a sucky hypothetical to begin with.

Jake didn’t consider himself a judgmental person for the most part, and he could imagine being friends with someone who was into scheduling sex and not caring, but he couldn’t imagine dating anyone other than Amy so that hypothetical didn’t work either. It was basically just a thought experiment, because he was with Amy now and nothing he would have done mattered, because nothing mattered but her.

Even though this was super weird. But it wasn’t at all sudden. Amy was weird and crazy and amazing from the get go. And she was still all of those things. Strange and insane and awesome. Jake wondered if he loved her.

He knew how he felt, but he just wondered if he had been using the word love wrong his whole life or if Amy was something new.

For the most part he grouped love into three groups: family, friends, girlfriends. There were probably other groups and subsets, but those were the big three. And he had a different kind of love with girls he was in relationships with than friends and family and everyone else so it wasn’t like he was mislabeling it at the time. And he was sure he wasn’t just remembering a less powerful feeling since it had been awhile since their relationship ended. He was definitely happy and loved them at the time, but there was a reason they broke up eventually, even though most of his previous break ups were amicable.

But Amy... she was something else. One of those once in a life time people.

One that never fades. One of those hard and fast and when it all calms down it stays steady and it's still whirlwind love every second that's never leaving.

He loved her so much. It was completely overwhelming, but he wasn't worried about it for a second. He knew he had nothing to be worried about. Maybe overwhelming wasn't the right word. Over flowing. Like he didn't know what to do with everything he felt but that was okay because he didn't need to do anything with it. He could just let it be overflowing. And he loved it. He loved every second of the love. Cause he loved her.

Yup, she was crazy. But he was too, so that didn't matter. Nothing mattered but her. Nothing mattered but Amy.

Amy and Jake- crazy together.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you vicariously cringing on behalf of Jake for how cringe worthy this all was?  
> Tell me if you cringe. Like emotionally cringe tell me that, but if you physically cringe and wince as you read this please please tell me.  
> Cringy cringe cringe.


	7. Ship of Theseus (good ol' fashion girl talk)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some good ol' fashion girl talk between two best friends. Romance, zombies, vibrators, and philosophy- same old same old.

“I, for one, commend him for that decision,” Kylie said after Amy told her how Jake postponed the first time they would have sex because it wasn’t ‘romantic enough’. Amy didn’t see the big deal and was perfectly happy with how things were about to go down in his car, and even though it was more than romantic enough for her, he was such a sap and it wasn’t romantic enough for him. He said he wanted to make her first time romantic for _her,_ which was undoubtedly true, but the whole deal was that he wasn’t satisfied with the level of romance for Amy’s first time cause he was sweet and adorable, and the complete opposite of a pragmatist.

Also, knowing Jake like she did, it wasn’t a big leap to figure it wasn’t romantic enough for _him_ and he was just saying it was all for her sake.

He even told her that was at least part of his motivation. That _he_ wanted _their_ first time _together_ to be special.

* * *

 

_“Seriously, Jake, this is 100% unnecessary. If this is about my first time being special shouldn’t I be the one deciding what is and isn’t special? Your car felt extremely special to me. You could be planning this whole big thing that you **think** I’ll find romantic, but when it actually happens maybe I’ll actually find it less romantic than your car. Ever think about that, huh? Planning something just for me when I was very happy with the first plan is just stupid. You don’t need to do this because of me.” _

_“Maybe I’m doing it cause of me. You ever think about that, huh?” He replied in his sassy voice and she raised an eyebrow at him._

_Jake sighed one of the most over dramatic sighs she had ever heard before dropping the sass. “Do you promise not to make fun of me for being corny?”_

_Amy was tempted to roll her eyes at his childishness, but it was also kinda adorable how embarrassed he was about being corny. She went along with his childishness and held out her pinky._

_“Pinky promise.”_

_Jake wrapped his pinky around hers and held it before disentangling their fingers and spilling his guts._

_“I just wanted it to be a little bit more even before you told me it was your first time,” he let out a defeated sigh. “Like I am so down for future car sexy times that will be a ton of fun, but I kinda wanted any time **but** the first time we had sex together to be in the backseat of my crappy car. You know? Like I thought the night and stars thing was pretty cool and made up for a little bit of the lack of romance in my junky car, like maybe compensated a bit for the negative romance points. In my personal romantic-stylez opinion. Night and stars and you, that was enough. It was perfect enough, but I still wanted it to be perfecter. Alright? And when you said it was your first time for anything and not just our first time together, the romance points dipped back to negative. There were too many anti-romance points and the positive romance points from the night and stars still left it in the negative. I want it to be perfect, and I still want it to be perfect. I wanna make it perfecter. Just let me use you as an excuse, please.” _

_“Perfecter isn’t a word. It’s more perfect,” Amy twisted her finger in the fringe at his forehead that looped into short curls with a silly smile on her face. Jake gave her a **really?** look from her automatic grammar correction, but it was an affectionate grammar correction so she thought that should count for something. _

_“I liked your math analogy though. It was pretty cute. The absolute value of positive and negative integers in regards to romance points. I think I might be rubbing off on you.”_

_“Actually, I had to spend some time coming up with that. You have no idea the work I have to put in to talk nerdy to you. It’s a lot.”_

 

* * *

 Amy wasn’t bothered by his sappiness, but she still wanted to complain to Kylie about it. One of them was supposed to complain about something utterly ridiculous and the other one was supposed to say supportive things amidst pointless whining. It was how their friendship worked.

What Kylie was _not_ supposed to do was support the other side of the argument that Amy was complaining about.

“No! You’re my best friend! You’re supposed to encourage me to go out and have all the sex I want! You know that if anything even remotely similar happened to you I’d be supportive even if I didn’t agree. I’d be like ‘He didn’t want to have sex 12 hours after meeting you for the first time? What a bastard. His loss.’ I wouldn’t say ‘You know what, I actually see his point.’ Even though you _know_ that I would see his point about 12 hours, I wouldn’t say out loud that I agreed with him.”

It was the unspoken rule that they were supposed to agree with each other when being completely illogical when bitching about relationships. It was like a girl bonding thing. Kylie did have more relationship experience given that she was prone to casual sexual relationships, and Amy always bought chocolate ice cream when a serious one went bad and they’d spend the whole weekend watching 80’s movies in their pajamas.

And now that Amy was in a fantastic relationship that was going _great_ and perfect and she had nothing logical to complain about, Kylie’s job as her best friend was to go along with her illogical complaining. It was part of girl code.

“C’mon, Kylie. We’ve been dating for months. I wanna have sex with my boyfriend already,” Amy sighed. “I don’t need you to be protective of me cause I already have seven overprotective older brothers to do that job. Plus, I’m an adult. Have been for years. I don’t need you to be all older sister looking out for me, I want you to be my best friend right now. So don’t try and shelter me or whatever, cause I know what I’m doing and I… I love him.”

As soon as the words left her lips, she realized that was the first time she said it out loud. The first time Amy Santiago said she loved Jake Peralta out loud. She was pretty sure the first time she said she loved Jake out loud should have been to Jake, but she wasn’t very good at the whole social-norms and relationship dos and don'ts to begin with.

“Have you told him that?” Kylie asked carefully, practically reading Amy’s mind. Really, she was probably just going on Amy’s expression because she had a horrible poker face.

“... Not yet…”

“Has he told you that?” She asked just as carefully.

“Not out loud.”

“Is there any other way to say it?” Kylie had a gentle and knowing smile as she waited for the answer.

Amy tried to find the right way to explain how there were a lot of ways to tell someone you loved them without actually saying it, but she didn’t think there was any way to sum up everything Jake did for her in some measly words. How to form some sentences that properly conveyed all the ways Jake let her know he loved her.

“Well, he hasn’t said it yet, but he shows me. He always show me,” she began and really wished she had time to write everything down in a coherent string rather than just rambling. She knew she didn’t have to screen what she said to Kylie, but when her best friend was still in overprotective mode she wished she could say everything she felt. Say it right. And maybe if she could figure out how to say it right to Kylie, she could say it right to Jake. Tell him everything she needed him to know.

“Jake’s not the best at saying stuff. And he’s talked to me about how he’s not the best at talking, and just those conversations are hard for him. It’s hard for him to talk about how bad he is at talking, much less actually talking. But he tells me about it because even though it’s hard for him he wants me to know that there’s so much he wants to say to me that he can’t work into words yet. And it’s hard for him to admit that, and open up like that, but he does to me even though it’s hard. He does _for_ me even though it’s hard. And that’s just the talking part. That’s just him talking seriously about talking. He tells me so much more about what I mean to him. Tells me how happy I make him. So maybe in not so many words, but he uses words that matter. And everything he does, with me and for me. Actions. He shows me he loves me in everything he does.”

“So what’s your excuse?”

The only sound that filled the air in place of Amy’s dumbfounded silence was her best friend tapping her foot as she waited _impatiently_ for an answer. She was wearing her no nonsense face that she always put on when she stopped coddling someone, cuing Amy in that she was trying to make a point with the question she just asked, but Amy had no clue what that point was. She had no idea what that question was even referring too.

“Huh?”

"What's your excuse for not telling him you love him yet? Jake's bad at talking and he acknowledges that, and that explains why he hasn't said it to you yet. By why haven't _you_ told him you loved him yet? What's your excuse?"

"Um-" Amy blinked a couple of times, taken aback by her friends change of course of defensiveness. Instead of being overprotective of Amy she switched to a sudden defensiveness of Jake. It was a fair question. Whether she was caught of guard or not, it was a fair question that should've had a reason behind it. But Amy realized she didn't have an answer for it, at all.

"I - I don't know. I - I don't have an excuse."

"Are you not sure if you love him or not?" Kylie asked even more carefully than she asked the questions before it, back to supportive best friend mode.

"No, I'm sure. I know. I love him. Positive. I've known I loved him for awhile."

The line of questioning Kylie hit her with in their living room made Amy take a step back. Kylie asking her that question made her wonder why she didn’t ask herself that question. Why hadn’t she said I love you to Jake yet?

She didn’t have a good reason. She didn’t even have _a_ reason. It wasn’t that she was avoiding saying it him first, she just hadn’t really thought about it much at all. How did that not even cross her mind?

Now that Kylie brought it to her attention, though, she didn’t know how she hadn’t even considered that. She felt like an idiot.

This wasn’t something she could blame on her usual social ineptness, this was just Amy Santiago being an idiot. Those three words were pretty damn important. Just because Amy couldn’t care less how long it took for Jake to say those three words to her she more or less left her thoughts there. Like a total idiot. She knew how happy he would be the moment she told him she loved him. And she hadn’t even thought about that. Telling her boyfriend exactly how much she loved him hadn’t even crossed her mind as of late. She couldn’t blame that on her lack of social skills- that was just her being an idiot through and through.

Why hadn’t she asked herself that question? Why hadn’t she told Jake she loved him yet?

“You’re half of the relationship, Amy,” Kylie started speaking again, this time her tone of voice was what Amy recognized as her full-on therapist mode. “You and Jake. You’re partners. You dated some guy in highschool, yeah?”

“Briefly,” Amy scoffed at herself. It was a month long ‘relationship’ that naive 15 year old her went through that barely qualified as dating in the usual sense.

“Did you ever tell that guy you loved him?”

“No, not at all. It wasn’t even 4 weeks when I was in 10th grade. It was hardly a relationship. Not an actual one. It was one of those high school things where we both thought we were kinda supposed to start dating at that age. I don’t even think we kissed more than three times before we broke up. Of course I never said I love you to him, cause I didn’t love him.”

“So as your second boyfriend, Jake would be the first boyfriend you would say I love you to, wouldn’t he?”

“Uh, I guess, yeah,” Amy shrugged, not liking the way this psychoanalysis seemed to be headed.

“That doesn't strike you as something that might have some underlying meaning?”

Kylie had that whole wink wink nudge nudge going on, being as overt as possible as she hinted and winked and nudged. And it was incredibly annoying seeing that knowing and smug look on Kylie's face, and it was even more annoying the Amy was thinking that it might actually be possible for her to have maybe a little bit of a point. Possibly.

“Just because- that doesn't mean that's why. That doesn't have to mean anything. You're reading too much into it,” Amy said, but even she could hear from her own voice that she didn’t believe the words she was saying.

“C’mon, Amy. You said you've been sure that you loved him for awhile. Direct quote, Amy Santiago, circa two minutes ago. So you've been dating for months and you haven't told him just cause? Is that really what you're going with? You love your boyfriend and haven’t come close to actually telling him that just cause you haven't gotten around to it yet? Really? _Really_?”

Amy winced at that. She forgot that the absolute worst part about being psychoanalyzed by Kylie: most of the time she ended up being right.

And Amy always hated admitting she was wrong.

Amy hemmed and hawed for a couple seconds as she tried to think of a response that _wouldn't_ end in her admitting she was wrong, but she couldn't find one.

“Well… when you put it like that… Of course it sounds like a bigger thing when you phrase it like that. When you say it like that it sounds like- it sounds like-”

“It sounds like you're scared,” Kylie gently finished for her. “You sound scared, but Jake sounds scared too. I know you were scared early on cause you're you with people and relationships, and you felt comfortable letting him take the lead of setting up the progressions since you were pretty new to the whole dating thing. You were scared, and he made you feel safe. You're not scared anymore. But it sounds like Jake is. It sounds like he’s scared, even if it's just with talking. But he's scared, Amy. He needs to feel safe, and you're the only one who can do that for him. You're the only one who can make him feel safe. You're the only one who can give him the words to make him feel safe. So tell him. Tell him you love him. And let him know he's safe.”

“God, I think you might be right,” Amy could barely suppress her groan because even she knew she was beat and couldn’t keep denying it.

“I usually am,” Kylie nodded, smug as could be.

* * *

 Amy and Kylie decided to have a movie marathon that night. That was one of the greatest things about living with your best friend. Staying up late with a bowl of popcorn between them, watching something or other on the couch in their pajamas. The great thing about having your best friend as a roommate was that they could do this whenever they felt like it. It wasn't any trouble having what was essentially a sleepover when Amy could just yell out “Hey, you wanna watch some movies tonight?” And Kylie would yell back to her from another room. It would've been a bit more burdensome having what really was a two girl slumber party as often as they did if they weren't roommates. Movie marathons wouldn't happen every week if they didn't live together and actually had to coordinate to hang out. Luckily that wasn't the case, and they had a movie night just cause about 1.25 times a week, on average.

Tonight they were popping back popcorn while going through some classics of the horror movie genre. Frankenstein, Night of the Living Dead, and Dracula were in the line up. Amy wasn't paying that much attention to the screams on screen, focused on the small notepad in her hand and making a list. Trying to, at least.

She was trying to think up ideas for the first time she would tell Jake she loved him, but she was kinda blanking on it. Totally blanking on it. And staring at the blank notepad that was just taunting her.

She had to start a new page because the last page got filled with ideas that she scribbled out as soon as she finished writing each one when she realized how stupid it was. She hadn't been this frustrated by anything that wasn't an academic related challenge in a very long time.

“You look like you're gonna murder that notepad any second now,” Kylie observed.

Amy hadn't even notice the movie had finished until she looked up and saw the credits were rolling.

“How do you know when it's the right time? To tell someone you love them? Or how do you know it's a good time and not a horrible time? When everyone says you just know when it's the right time, that you just _feel_ it when the time is right, what does that actually feel like? What if it's the perfect time and I can't tell? Or what if it's the perfect time and I can feel that it's the perfect time, but I don't realize that the feeling I'm feeling is the perfect time feeling and I just let it slip by? Please don't tell me it’s one of those 'you’ll know it when you see it’ emotions. What if I see it and I feel it but I don't even realize that's what it is. Realize that's what it means. What if it hits me and I don't even know it? I don't wanna miss it. What does the feeling that it's the perfect time to tell someone you love them for the first time actually feel like?”

Courtesy of the real talk from earlier, Amy realized what she needed to do, but was struggling to come up with a plan to execute it.

After Amy came to the conclusion that she needed to tell Jake she loved him, and soon, she was worried about timing. Timing was something that tended to be a big deal, right? Everyone made a big deal about timing when it came to saying it for the first time. Saying I love you for the first time- timing meant everything.

That’s what they always said.

“I don’t know,” Kylie shrugged, and Amy looked appalled that Kylie wouldn’t even make an attempt to explain it to her. “If that even exists, I’ve never felt it. I’ve never ever experienced a perfect moment to tell someone I love them. I’ve never had a feeling about any right timing. I think that’s just a bunch of BS. There’s no right timing and there’s no foot popping moment- those are just made up to give romantic movies plot points. Those are movie tropes made up by lazy script writers who other lazy script writers incorporate their easy target plot point so much that it gets accepted as a rom-com fact. Who the hell has ever had an urge to pop their foot? Where the hell did that come from? What idiot made that up? There’s no foot popping moment and there’s no overwhelming sensation that it’s the right time to say it. No woman or man on earth has ever felt the urge to pop their foot during a kiss. Maybe some people do get an overwhelming right timing feeling, but I never have. Every person I’ve said I love you too was because I wanted to tell them and I decided to say it, so I said it to them. There’s never been any external factors that I noticed at least. There’s no big sign, Amy. There’s no signs at all. That’s just a movie thing. There’s never any signs that it’s _the_ moment, because _the_ moment doesn’t exist. _The_ moment isn’t a real thing, not in real life at least. So you can’t just keep waiting around for the perfect moment to fall into your lap, because that’s just a fiction concept or rom-com trope or whatever. There is no _the_ moment in real life. There’s never a perfect moment to tell someone you love them for the first time. You need to tell Jake you love him because he loves you, and any moment you tell him is gonna be the perfect moment. Every time you tell him it’s gonna be a good moment for him. So you need to tell him whether it feels like a good moment or not. Even if it feels like a horrible moment to you, I know he’s gonna be happy with whatever moment you choose just cause it’s gonna be a good moment because you saying it is what makes it a good moment.”

Amy thought that was a good point and it made a lot of sense, but there had to be more to it. She knew it wasn’t as simple as that. Sure, Kylie could boil it down to a broad rule about there being no rules, but there had to be some rules. Her best friend was an idealist when it came to this sort of thing. One of those free spirit believe in the power of love sort of types, but in a realistic sense. Kylie was an idealistic but realistic romantic. Amy was not idealistic and she sucked at being romantic too. So giving advice in the big picture sort of way that Kylie usually thought in didn’t work well when Amy needed details. Amy Santiago had never been a big picture sort of person, and she _always_ got hung up on the details.

“What if the first time I tell him is right after his dog gets hit by a car? If he had a dog? What if I tell him 5 seconds after he hits someone else’s dog that ran in front of his car? That is arguably a bad moment. What if he’s choking and I say it for the first time before I give him the Heimlich maneuver? What if I tell him I love him for the first time when we’re in a Mcdonald’s drive through? That’s the least romantic situation I can imagine off the top of my head right now. Those are awful times and you know it. You can’t just say that me saying it will make a fast food drive through a romantic situation. Those are objectively bad moments. What do you have to say to that, huh?” Amy argued with the level of snark that was usually reserved for her brothers being idiots, not her best friend giving her advice. But she was beyond frustrated trying to figure this all out, so her immature smart aleck came out in this argument. “There are moments so bad that they can’t be saved. You don’t tell someone you love them in unromantic situations like that. Unromantic moments like that. Unromantic moments do exist so that means romantic moments have to exist too. Neutral moments probably exist too, but they can’t be as good of times to say it as romantic moments are. I want a romantic moment to be happening- or at least a semi-romantic moment. Jake’s the super sappy one. I want to give him a super sappy romantic moment when I say it to him for the first time, but I’m just not good at that type of stuff. I want a romantic moment to be happening when I tell him the first time. That’s all. He’ll like that. I’m not good at sappy. I just want to do this one thing sappy for him, but… I just want to tell him when a romantic moment is happening. I don’t want to settle for a neutral moment.”

Amy huffed and threw her notepad and pen aside and slumped deeper into the couch cushions. She really was hopeless in this department, wasn’t she? She loved it when Jake did the super cheesy and romantic stuff for her. She didn’t get why she was so bad at doing it back. She was able to recognize what was and wasn’t romantic and the romantic stuff always made her so happy, so she didn’t understand how she could be so bad at doing it back. Maybe she just wasn’t creative enough. She actually researched ideas on occasion. Use the search term ‘romantic ideas list’ or ‘romantic date ideas’ or something like that and look at all the such-and-such relationship site top 50 romantic ideas. She could memorize all 50 of those ideas. She could memorize the whole list, but it never made a difference on how bad she was at actually doing something romantic. She sucked, through and through. That’s all there was to it- Amy was dating the sweetest guy in the world and poor Jake had the most unromantic girlfriend in the world. She was definitely hopeless.

“Alright, be all nitpicky with my sage wisdom,” Kylie elbowed her with a laugh and Amy had to roll her eyes. She also had to smile.

“I’ll give you that there are romantic and unromantic moments. There isn’t _the_ one perfect moment, but I’ll concede that there are situations that make for a more romantic moment. But you can’t just wait for a romantic situation to fall in your lap. If you want it to be all romance in the air when you say it for the first time, you can’t just twiddle your thumbs and wait around for romance to fill the air. You go make that romance fill the air. You rent a fog machine by the hour and fill that air around you with romance and you bring him to it and make it a romantic moment, and then make it a great moment when you tell him you love him. You can’t be passive about it. You make that moment happen.”

“That philosophy class you’re taking is really paying off, huh?” Amy chuckled and stood up to switch the DVDs and get their next movie in the lineup started. She was starting feeling a lot better about it and a lot less frustrated, but she was ready to give her brain a break from brainstorming about romance. No more romance thinking tonight - now was time for some good old flesh eating zombies. Horror movies were downright relaxing compared to franticing over setting up romantic moments.

“Oh my god, we listened to audio version of our text book in class one day and after I heard the guy’s voice reading it I had to get the audio version too. His voice is so soothing. Just lulls me to sleep,” she gushed about the narrator and Amy had to smile at the reminder that her best friend was a total weirdo too. That’s why they got along so well together. A big picture freak and a detail freak - it was the craziness in both of them that made them such good friends.

“It’s like warm honey trickling in my ears every time I listen to it, and I don’t even listen to it to learn, it’s just his voice reading the textbook is like a bedtime story, so I turn it on sometimes just so he reads philosophy to me as I drift off. And I think I’m learning it in my sleep and it’s invading my dreams. Last night I had a dream about the ship of Theseus. It really messed me up waking up with that paradox on my mind.”

“You’re insane,” Amy told her, sitting back down next to her BFF and stealing the popcorn bowl when the movie started playing.

* * *

 “Sometimes I forget that you have seven super overprotective older brothers, so the few times I do it it’s infuriatingly old hat. Sorry. All my annoyingness is because I love you. But at least I’m not overbearing and sheltering your little innocent ears when it comes to sex,” Kylie apologized the next morning.

“Ugh, talk about overprotective older brothers,” Amy groaned into her hands. The spoon that she just let go clanked the side of her cereal bowl so loudly that it made her wince and she just groaned again. “I’m pretty sure they’d still like to pretend to themselves that their 22 year old sister doesn’t know what 69 stands for and has never seen a porn video in her life. Michael is only a year older than me and all our older brothers had no problems mentioning sex around him once he was in highschool. 22 years, Kylie. And they still refuse to even say the word sex if I’m in earshot.”

“I bet if you sent them a picture of you smiling and holding up one of your vibrators they’d faint,” Kylie had a glint in her eye like they were two of the most mischievous co-conspirators in all of history before her face broke when she couldn’t hold her serious expression any longer and split into a smile. “You know, Amy, you are the least innocent virgin I’ve ever met. I’ve never met another virgin who has her own vibrator _drawer_ and readily admits to watching porn she feels like it without being embarrassed at all. A lot of the girls I know won’t even admit to their boyfriends that they have a single vibrator hidden at the back of their underwear drawer. Those girls have sex with their boyfriends pretty often and they’re still way more delicate when it comes to sexual topics than you. You should be proud of yourself for being the dirtiest virgin ever. I’m so proud to call you my best friend.”

“See, I actually don’t get that. Having a vibrator as a virgin makes perfect sense. You’d think that all virgins would have them. 22 years old when I found a guy who I really like and want to have sex with, but I didn’t know when that would happen until it happened. With Jake. It only makes sense to assume that I was masturbating when I was 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, and so on. It’s the only logical assumption. The stupid assumption is that any girl who doesn’t currently have a partner to get her off won’t be getting off at all. It’s the stupid assumption for anyone to think that the majority of single women _aren’t_ masturbating. It’s stupid for anyone to be surprised to find out that a female virgin masturbates. The most shocking thing would be finding an 18 year old female who has never had sex _and_ who has never masturbated before. That’s the statistically unlikely option. Nobody should be shocked by the majority. It’s the only logical assumption to make that a 22 year old virgin is well acquainted with masturbation. Why would I not be? I was more than fine enjoying my orgasms on my own. Now I have a person I want to share my orgasms with. I was very satisfied keeping my orgasms to myself these 22 years because I hadn’t met a person I’d have more fun orgasming with than orgasming alone. There’s the love thing too. I mean, the love relationship thing is what makes it more fun. Or whatever. You know what I mean. It’s the only logical thing to assume that a 22 year old virgin woman has masturbated many times before.”

“Yup, that’s my girl right there. Perfect example,” Kylie beamed with genuine pride.

“I’m a pragmatist, simple as that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this chapter being 5,000 words makes up for how long it's been since I posted the last one. Maybe. Please?  
> Thank you so much for your patience.  
> Have a lovely day!


	8. Unannounced

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unannounced (Romance in the air part 1)

They always give each other a heads up before they go visit each other. Not because they weren't okay with each other showing up uninvited or anything, but because it was such a long trip that was usually only made for the express intention of seeing each other. There wasn't any “Oh, I was just in the neighborhood” when your neighborhoods were two hours apart. In the simplest of analogies, it was like scheduling play dates every week (not _that_ kind of play dates). When you're going to drive two hours to go see your girlfriend, you wanna make sure it'll be a good time for her too. You wanna check beforehand.

Ask if they'll be busy when you get there in two hours before you start your car.

Really, scheduling play dates two hours in advance was really if they didn't already have one planned for then. It was a bit more inconvenient than if they lived in the same city, but a middle-distance relationship was a whole lot easier than a long-distance relationship. A two hour drive wasn't that bad. A one hour drive was like a daily commute, right? Lots of people live an hour away from their work, and work five days a week. An hour drive was considered a work commute, and Amy lived twice the distance of that. But a two hour commute to your girlfriend was a lot more rewarding- and a _way_ better destination.

Technically it was a two hour drive there, and a two hour drive back, so the commute was four hours total, but it was doable. And so worth it. The two hour drive meant that Jake got to see his girlfriend in person and hang out for awhile at least once a week (one to two times a week, normally), so he didn't have any complaints.

Sometimes it was more often, and sometimes less cause, you know, college (and life in general), but it wasn't unmanageable.

So, on average, they hung out once a week, and they didn't have to check in advance before they started driving over cause they already set it up the day, or days, before. So texting two hours in advance was really just the “You up?” of a middle-distance relationship.

Plus, the technology age was a wonderful one to live in. A middle distance relationship was no trouble with instant messaging, phone calls, _and_ hanging out like normal.

Anyways, if they didn't already know the answer, they always asked to make sure the other person would be home and free at the time they would get there before they started their drive. Always gave a warning they were heading over and would be there in two hours. There wasn't any dropping by unannounced in a middle-distance relationship. No surprise visits. They looked forward to each and every one.

* * *

_Amy:_

_Hey, you home?_

 

_Jake:_

_Yeah, you wanna talk? I'll call you? You call me? You know it always messes up when we call each other at the same time_

 

_A:_

_No, I don't want to talk to you on the phone. You could open your front door for me in the next 10 seconds if you wanted to, though._

 

Amy was only standing on the porch a few seconds after she sent the message before she heard Jake clambering around inside. Scrambling, by the sounds of it. Honestly, it sounded like a wet cat trapped in a wind tunnel. She was wondering how much longer it could take anyone to get to their front door, cat or not, when she heard him bump into something very loud and very heavy that _had_ to have hurt.

She was then greeted by Jake, clutching his shin with a grimace of pain as he opened the door for her.

“Need some help?” She teased, carefully sidestepping the wooden chest that was usually placed against the wall that Jake had somehow knocked a good two feet out of its normal resting place.

“I hate that stupid thing,” he hissed through his teeth. “Gina says it classes up the joint, but I'd rather be low brow than banging into this every week.”

* * *

“First off, it was unlocked. And second, you could have knocked or used our fully functioning doorbell instead of texting. Is everything okay? Amy Santiago showing up unannounced? Is someone dead?”

They made their way to his bedroom and Amy brought in her bag of surprise that Jake was eying with obvious excitement in between giving her worried looks from how out of character she was acting.

“Texting was my announcement,” she informed him. “Knocking on your door really would have been unannounced. Texting on your doorstep and asking if you were even home was my announcement to make sure if I knocked and your roommates answered they wouldn't have to tell me that you weren't home since I didn't check in advance.”

Jake gave her a clearly doubtful look- it seemed the ten second announcement story wasn't working for him. For some reason he just wasn't buying it from Amy Santiago who _always_ gave a two hour heads up. Whatever crazy reason that was.

“You sure everything's alright? Do you have cancer? Do I have cancer? Are you here to tell me that I'm gonna die? It must be bad news for you to come all the way out here without planning in advance,” he eyed her with as much suspicion as he could muster.

“Don't be a dork, everything's fine.”

She took a seat on his bed, setting her stuff down beside her. She smiled back up at him and patted the spot next to her, inviting him to sit down too. Jake stayed standing, squinting like he was trying to figure out what was going on when he was convinced something nefarious was afoot. He gave her a cursory once over, looking very, _very_ suspicious. She gave him her bright, innocent, and cheery face- the sweet one that basically says 'Who? Me? I would never take the cookies from the cookie jar' in that falsetto tone and batted eyelashes from the cookie thief. The sweet face like _he_ was the weird one for thinking something's off for her to drop in unexpected for a 'just cause' visit, when they both knew that was actually very reasonable of him to think. It was a pretty logical conclusion for him to reach.

Jake just stood in front of her, completely silent with a shrewd look as he waited for her to speak. In pursuit of forensic science degrees at college a lot of side classes involved learning some of the basics of other trades of the criminal justice system too. One test she helped Jake study for in his class a few weeks ago had a few questions on interrogation techniques- like the one of remaining silent and waiting for the suspect to start speaking just to fill the silence as human beings are wont to do when faced with a stretch of silence with another human being.

She dropped her sweet face and act, gave him a genuine smile- a normal Amy Santiago smile

“Why do you keep looking at me like I'm going to explode any second?”

“You made the drive out here without telling me to make sure I'm gonna be home in two hours and not on a spontaneous grocery shopping trip because you think I'm crazy for going to get food whenever I need it instead of going once a week at the same time. So expecting you to possibly explode right now is a fair assumption. And at least a valid reason to be concerned.” Jake replied. His look was shaded with worry, so she stopped holding out and revealed the surprise she had for him.

Amy reached into her bag and pulled out all the items she had packed, one by one, laying them out on the bed beside her. Boxes of candy (junior mints, sour patch kids, skittles, Reese's pieces), five different bags of microwave popcorn (of varying butter and salt levels), a bottle of his favorite orange soda, a bottle of sprite for herself, and last but not least she pulled out the centerpiece of her grand reveal: the brand new, still in plastic wrapping, DVD case of the one and only Die Hard.

“I already have a copy of the best movie to ever exist. If you wanted to watch it you could've just asked.”

After Amy emptied her bag of goodies it was pretty clear what theme she was going with. Movie night. As like a cutsey-date thing. He didn't know why she kept this whole visit a secret, because this would have been a surprise movie night date thing if she gave him a heads up she was heading over to come see him and she'd be there in two hours. Movie night would have been a surprise whether she kept her planned visit a secret or not.

He still wasn't completely sure that that's all this was. Like, he wasn't worried anymore, but he was sure there was at least a bit of a reason she didn't tell him she was coming over until she was already standing at his doorstep. He had a feeling there was a little bit more to it, but that wasn't important. The only thing that mattered was that Amy was here, smiling, grinning really- she planned this whole thing so they could have fun together, and she was smiling so bright. Nothing else mattered, seeing how happy she looked right now. She was so beautiful when she smiled. Well, she was beautiful all the time, even if she was frowning or pissed off. But when her face was lit up like it was now- she was blinding.

“You don't have the collector's edition. I know. I checked. And so I figured I'll finally watch it with you tonight.”

Jake smiled that little teasy grin of his that had always been one of her favorites, “Are you breaking up with me and just trying to soften the blow when you break my heart?”

“This is the pinnacle of romance, cause I'm the best girlfriend ever,” Amy told him very matter of factly, tapping him on the shoulder with the collectors edition DVD case.

And, because she couldn't resist, kissed him on the cheek- Jake's nose crinkled up like an adorable little chipmunk at the unexpected peck.

“Now here,” she said, handing it over to him. “You get this set up, I'll go make the popcorn, and we can get this romantic movie night started. Because Die Hard collector's edition date night is something that would make _anyone_ swoon,” she smirked.

“You know you're the greatest, right?”

“I try.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyy! Long time no update!  
> Sorry about that.
> 
> Chapter 8 was originally going to be much longer (at 5,000 words ish) but I still wasn't finished with the whole thing, so I decided to split it up into two chapters, so I could post this right now. Chapter 9 will be what was originally the second half of the 5000 word chapter that this used to be before I split them up.  
> So this is really Romantic Die Hard movie night part 1, and chapter 9 is really Romantic Die Hard movie night part 2 (the conclusion). Once I finish it, that is.
> 
> And yes, the summary of Romance in the Air is a direct reference to chapter 7, so I think you guys can guess what is coming up.


	9. Here and Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here and Now (Romance in the air part 2)

Die Hard date night was a smashing success. If you defined smashing success as having fun, which Amy did. So movie night was a smashing success.

Amy underestimated how much Jake loved this movie. And she has always estimated/known that Jake was obsessed with Die Hard. But it was a whole lot deeper than most people love their favorite movie. A whole lot more. He had every line of dialogue memorized, and she could see him mouthing it word for word under his breath. The whole movie. Every word every character said. He mouthed every single word of the whole damn script along with every character when they delivered their lines. That was in between him saying “wait for it, this is the best part” (which he said no less than five times).

That's not even to mention the multiple times he turned to her to make sure she was still watching. Which of course she was. They were sitting on his bed right next to each other, all the snacks laid out before them.

Truth be told, he was more than a little bit distracting. He was just so cute every time he whipped his head towards her to eagerly make sure her eyes were still on the screen- which made her want to keep her eyes on him because- did she mention how adorable he was?

By the halfway point she scooted closer and curled up into him, laying her head on his shoulder so he could stop checking if she was still watching and distracting her in the process.

Jake's wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer, leaning his head against hers, and not long after Amy's arm had snaked around his waist and it was some serious sweet and romantic cuddle action going on during this action movie with _so_ much shooting.

When the credits started rolling Jake got up to pause the DVD on his computer, flicked the light switch on again, then fell back in next to her. Or really, he bounced back on his bed so he was seated in front of her, criss cross apple sauce.

“I really don't know how I'm gonna beat this date. Our first date at the golf course took like all the romantic-ness I had. I really should have saved that for later instead of setting the bar so high for myself on our first date. I'm really regretting not setting the bar a million times lower for myself for romantic date ideas. I mean, come on. Movie night? This was sappy as hell, Ames. And pretty great too,” he beamed, the picture of joy. “Only you could take one of the top three most cliché date ideas and mix it with Die Hard and pull it off perfectly. And because this was a whole date thingy you planned for me, thank you by the way, I will not force you to watch the second and third movie right now, but you'd best believe we're getting to them soon. But I mean... I can't believe you did this, Ames,” Jake shook his head with a warm and incredulous laugh.

“You really liked it that much, huh?” She asked with a smirk.

Instead of shooting her a quip back, Jake kissed her as his response. When their lips made contact it didn't take any time for her hand to move up and cradle his cheek in their kiss that, while longer than just a peck, was just soft and sweet.

When he pulled back with, god, just the cutest smile on his face, she was only left with the conclusion that yes, he really did like it _that_ much.

“And, you know, all of this,” she circled her hand over all the trash from the candy was piled on the end of his bed to signify the whole Die Hard date plan. “There's actually a specific reason I did all this. I actually did all this so I could do something else for you. Like this was part one of 'Amy Santiago's plan of wooing your boyfriend of several months'. Or maybe more like step one of 'Amy Santiago's plan of romancing your boyfriend several months'. Yeah, that sounds right. So Die Hard date night was step one. And it's a, uh, a two step process. That was step one.”

The second step of the process was her sole motivation for this. The second step was also why she had to show up unannounced, for the sake of her sanity. She had to keep the whole thing a surprise because she couldn't _not_ work herself up into a bundle of nerves on the two hour drive over to enact her plan if he was waiting for her to finally get there. Now she was here. Time for step two.

“Oo, there's a second surprise?” Jake asked excitedly, a glint in his eyes.

“Yeah, so... So I'm gonna say something, but I'm making a rule right now that you're not allowed to say it back tonight. You should wait at least a week, and maybe longer than that. Because you're you with feelings and talking about them, so when I say I love you tonight you are absolutely not allowed to say it right back. Cause I know it's true for you too, but I don't want to hear you say it out loud tonight. I know you do. But if I say you don't have to say it back I know you're gonna try because I know you do love me, but you're kinda the worst person on the planet when it comes to vocalizing serious stuff. So I'm not saying you don't have to say it back tonight. I'm saying you're not _allowed_ to say it back. Next week, next month, those are good times for you to say it. Not tonight. I don't want you to say it tonight. And if you even try to say it in the next 24 hours I will be so pissed off at you, so don't even go there. Got it?” She asked, waiting for him to nod back at her before she started again. Or really, before she finished.

Jake nodded, reassuringly, and interlaced his fingers in hers.

That was more than just a little bit rambly from her just now, and it was pretty obvious that she was pretty nervous about what she was going to say next. Well, not nervous, but just... worked up? And it wasn't a secret what she was going to say next (she more or less just said it already in her ramble).

Worrying her hands together, her voice came out tense as she kept talking- she didn't realize how nervous she sounded until she stopped speaking.

Then he took her hand.

The look in his eyes- everything about him was soft in that moment. His expression was soft in that hazy sort of peacefulness, a warm wonder and affection.

She would never get over the way he looked at her. And how he was right now- he knew the three words she was going to say. And he didn't try to stop her from saying it.

She more or less just told him she loved him two or three times in that ramble just now. So, duh, he knew what she was going to say since she already told him. And when she cut off her own ramble she was still worrying her hands together and still pretty worked up and nervous about the next sentence, even though she already told him

She was still worked up about her next sentence, even though she already told him. She was still visibly nervous about her next sentence, even though he already knew what she was going to say. He didn't try to stop her from saying it though. No, he just held her hand and waited with her.

That meant more to her than he would ever know. More than she'd ever be able to tell him.

Of course Jake was very familiar with all her people issues. There have been more than a few occasions where he's helped her breathe and stay calm when she was struggling to not panic during regular human interactions. That was one of the many things she loves about him. Jake doesn't protect her-he helps her.

This right here was a perfect example.

Jake doesn't try to protect her. He doesn't try to shield her from things- doesn't try to prevent things he thinks she can't handle from getting to her. He doesn't try to shelter her or like keep her safe from harm or whatever.

He helps her.

Jake doesn't try to protect her _from_ things that are uneasy.

He tries to help her _with_ things that are uneasy.

Like here and now.

Jake was still and quiet with her, holding her hand, just being with her. The fact that he was holding her hand in the calm quiet, his fingers rubbing soothing circles on her palm, the fact that he was quiet with her instead of saying something to try and stop her- that meant more to her than he would ever know.

Amy smiled. She held his hand, his palm laid flat against her left palm, her right fingers delicately tracing the back of his hand, mapping it out with her touch, careful design.

“I love you, Jake. I really, really love you.”

His smile was so bright and brilliant, and she could feel her own grin spreading across her face. Honestly, it wasn't fair how adorable he looked right now, all smiley, all cause of her. The almost giddy expression was so damn cute she didn't know how she survived this long when he made faces like this _all_ the time.

“Cool, thanks,” he said, biting down his grin, and she couldn't help but laugh.

“You're welcome.”

Amy couldn't hold down her smile either. Luckily, she didn't have to. Neither of them had to. So neither of them did.

* * *

 “Are you gonna help me plan sex night now? Cause for real you gave me your schedule over two weeks ago and I still have literally no idea what to do at all. None whatsoever. You're the one who plans everything. Why do I have to plan it? You're the one who's good at planning and likes planning stuff. If I'm planning something the plan is like 99% guaranteed to fall apart. Why didn't you plan it? Why won't you help me plan it?”

“I did plan my night, and you rejected my plan,” she helpfully reminded him. “I already planned, but you weren't happy with having sex in your car, so the next plan's on you.”

“You're counting that as your plan?!” He exclaimed, the same whiny 'uh!' from the back of his throat that a spoiled child makes in protest when they just cannot _believe_ someone would do something so unfair.

“I'm not 'counting' it as my plan. It _was_ my plan.”

“But your plan was super unromantic!”

“Yup, so that's why you're planning the next one, and you can make it just as romantic as you want.”

“God, you make me cringe sometimes, Ames.”

“Just take the brownie points, Jake. Don't fight how much of a sap you are, cause it's the greatest. You make every other boyfriend _and_ girlfriend look bad in terms of romanticness. Don't fight being the best. Just accept being the best. Be proud of being the best.”

“Being the best is cringe inducing,” he scowled at her teasing. “I can't be that good at it if I physically wince at sappy actions cause I'm the most immature person ever. That's on the list of most unromantic traits for a significant other to have. Half the time I refer to romantic gestures as mushy stuff. How is that part of being the best BF ever?”

“If you were actually good at vocalizing stuff I'd be worried you were a robot programmed to be perfect. To have character flaws is to be human. You're the most romantic person I've ever met, and you manage to never be cheesy about it. I think you calling stuff mushy and gross and sappy is what makes everything you do not cringe iducingly cheesy and stereotypical. It's a good balance. It helps your whole deal for the better. It's endearing in the way that endearing is not a euphemism for a flaw, it's endearing that I'd actually be pretty disappointed if one day you woke up being completely comfortable breaking out into saptastic speeches in the middle of a crowded restaurant and sprouting love poems left and right. I'd be disappointed in that, cause the current version of Jake Peralta is definitely my favorite. So maybe being good with words is on your list of what you think makes the perfect boyfriend, but it's not on my list.”

* * *

 “You only have one roommate who actually leaves your dorm to go to class, so I figure that'll be where most of our fun takes place in the long term, but I don't want super duper romantic first sex time to be at your place with a time limit of when your roommate's last class is over that day. But I have no idea what to do. Cause I mean it's not like a vacation and getting a hotel room like 10 miles away seems so seedy although practical, but still super seedy. Even a really nice hotel room, just getting a nice expensive hotel suite purely so we can have sex in still seems all kinds of yuck. And we already nixed out uncomfortable, cramped back seats of cars. I was hoping you and your immense knowledge could come up with something better?”

“I really don't think I can help you there,” she told him. Before he could gasp all offended at her for refusing to help him just because she didn't feel like it, she informed him that it wasn't that she _wouldn't_ help him, it was that she _couldn't_ help him. “You know me. I am all about practicality. You're the creative one. I think a hotel is a great idea. I thought your car was a great idea. I still think it's a great idea if you want to revisit that option,” she wiggled her eyebrows like he always did when making a sexual innuendo.

“You're just useless. No help at all,” Jake chuckled, shaking his head at her.

Amy swatted him on the shoulder, then pulled him in to plant a sweet kiss on his cheek. Before she could pull away he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her even closer, so he could kiss her on the lips. She, of course, didn't refuse his offer and gladly took him up on it. Her hand drifted up his chest, clutching his shirt and gave a little tug as her teeth grazed his bottom lip. He parted for her tongue, and this time the whine at the back of his throat was one she was all too pleased hearing. Jake's muted whines when she was kissing him oh so very deeply were definitely one of her favorite things to hear. She left his lips with a light little nibble, a pretty smug smile on her face to go with it.

The faint blush on his cheeks just reminded her how much she loved that he still got a bit flushed every time she kissed him longer than 10 seconds. 10 seconds was the cut off line that guaranteed her boyfriend would have at least a bit of pink on his face when she pulled back from kissing him, even after all this time.

It didn't help her resolve much when he was just so cute when he blushed- it didn't help her resist kissing him and, well, a little bit more whenever she got her hands on him.

“You know, it's not fair when you do that. You can't just _do_ that, Ames. It's not fair,” Jake's protruding lower lip as he pouted about her habit of kissing him heatedly (AKA: intense make out sessions) and her ability to just snap back into normal mode like she wasn't just vigorously- and aggressively- making out with him two seconds earlier with no trouble whatsoever. “It's not fair when you just do that when I can't even do anything about it yet. It's not fair that you just do that when I can't even do anything about it right here, right now,” Jake motioned around his room.

The whole reason they weren't having sex at Amy's place (at least not the first time) was because, while her dorm did have locks on the front door, the bedrooms didn't, and the prospect of her over protective roommate randomly coming home from class early and possibly walking in on them in her bedroom when her boyfriend was helping her lose her virginity wasn't a possibility that was very alluring. After they had sex for the first time the possibility that her roommate might randomly come home in the middle of the day when she was supposed to be at classes wouldn't be _that_ big of a deal. Taking their time for the first time without having the small possibility of being walked in on at the back of their mind was a much better option.

Jake's bedroom door did have a lock- but the problem was a bit different when it came to interruptions caused by his three roommates who all did online college too. All of the bedrooms in the house had locks on their doors, so it wasn't like his roommates could walk in on them. It was a good house with thick, quality walls, so that wasn't the problem either. The problem was that if Amy was over and his door was locked and they couldn't hear a thing his roommates would bang on the door at random intervals and shout 'stop having sex!' cause they assumed the only reason it was silent was because they were trying not to make noise, even though they couldn't even hear anything if they were talking at normal conversation levels because of the good walls. They were really just guessing. Or not even guessing, just constantly doing it in case it was one of the times that Jake and Amy were actually doing it. A broken clock was still right twice a day.

Jake started locking his door every time they were in there together, so it wouldn't be suspicious when his door actually was locked for a good reason. While Jake wasn't a fan of his friends being dicks with their stupid gag, he was at least thankful they were adults. Stupid, immature adults, but still adults. They'd lived together for about two years before he even met Amy. And while living with your best friends since grade school sometimes seemed more annoying than its worth since they've been your stupid annoying friends for over 10 years and knew how to get on your nerves as quickly and efficiently as possible, they were still respectful of the basics of being decent roommates with each other. Such as knocking on bedroom doors and waiting the other person to respond before barging in.

Opening his door without knocking and him telling them to come in was not something ever do, but he had a lock on his bedroom door, and thought might as well use it when his door's gonna be shut the whole time and he doesn't want anyone entering anyway.

But banging on his door and telling him to stop having sex at random intervals was something they'd totally do. And they totally did. They did it as a passing thought every time they walked by his door essentially. It had become one of their favorite ways to mess with him now, and he hated his best friends so much.

And Amy was very persistent about fucking him in his bedroom before she gave up on his place and planned the whole car thing. It was a bit of a mood killer when your girlfriend had pushed you down on your bed, taken of her shirt, and was kissing you hungrily as she was in the process of unbuttoning yours, your hands twisted in her hair, her hot mouth-

“Stop having sex!” is shouted through your door accompanied by so, so much banging.

Amy, practical as ever, suggested they put on a movie and turned it up loud enough that his roommates would be able to hear it playing from his door, since they only banged on his door at random intervals if all they could hear was silence. The quality walls meant that you couldn't hear anything at a conversational level of noise from any of the bedrooms with the door closed, but you didn't have to turn up the volume when watching a movie or TV show too loud before you could at least tell that something was playing through the door. Didn't have to blare it, just turn it up a tad bit more than normal.

Amy suggested the whole movie thing to beat annoying roommates before she came up with her car night plan and they made it about halfway through the plan that night. He didn't even find out she hadn't had sex before until the middle of car night.

When his girlfriend was very eager, intent, and goal oriented on fucking him in his bedroom before being interrupted he assumed she wasn't new to the whole having sex thing until she told him she was.

All the times she was very comfortable and determined and took the time frame of semi-random varying intervals of roommate interruptions as a personal challenge that she was going to beat convinced him she had more than a little experience in the fucking area cause she was just so darn good at it. Until asshole friends would metaphorically barge in on their heated moment and make them both groan in annoyance.

He was fine with her loud movie idea for, like, future occurrences. He told her that. Amy only came up with the car plan because he told her he didn't wanna have sex together for the first time during a really loud movie playing in the background. He didn't even know she was a virgin at that point in time. It wasn't too much to ask to not have something blasting at high volume through speakers when you and your girlfriend were having sex together for the first time, was it? It was the gag-worthy sentimentality that he wanted their first time together to be a bit more, ugh, special than all of Amy's practical ideas that were- while efficient and pragmatic- were super unromantic (according to him).

It wasn't that Amy didn't get why turning up the speakers in his room wasn't very romantic of a situation. She knew it wasn't very romantic. She understood it wasn't romantic. She knew that.

With Amy and romance- she liked Jake being all sweet and sappy. She really did. It wasn't that she didn't like romantic stuff, or that she didn't get that something was romantic or not sometimes. It wasn't that Amy didn't like romantic stuff. She loved romantic stuff. But she also liked and loved practical stuff. It wasn't that she didn't mind things being practical- she genuinely liked practical stuff like she genuinely liked romantic stuff. She liked romantic stuff just as much as she liked practical stuff, and she liked practical stuff just as much as she liked romantic stuff. She was genuinely and earnestly the same amounts of happy with both.

The whole plan of her coming over with his favorite movie as a surprise visit and telling him she loved him- all of that was because she was trying to do something sweet and romantic for her incredibly cute and sappy boyfriend. Jake was the one in their relationship that was all about big romantic gestures and displays of affection- he really was sappy and sentimental. And she loved that about him. She loved everything about him. And when it became pretty clear they weren't going to be able to get anything sexual-stylez going on his his locked bedroom without his stupid friends doing their stupid joke unless they had a loud movie going on- after it became apparent that there was no way that was going down in his bedroom without noisy distractions, he at least wanted the first time they had sex together to be anywhere but his bedroom. Wanting to be able to fuck in peace the first time you and your significant other bone down together wasn't an unreasonable expectation, he thought. It wasn't even _that_ sappy. Wanting to fuck your girlfriend for the first time with no distractions going on was pretty normal, right? That was like average, or something. It wasn't super romantic to wanna do that- it was normal. He wasn't being sappy or especially sentimental- he was being average wanting to have sex with his girlfriend without any distractions.

That's what he maintained- nay, insisted. Amy very lightly and affectionately teased him about him being mushy just to see him blush when he told her that.

(Something along the lines of 'Hey, instead of keep trying to and keep getting interrupted in my bedroom, maybe we should move onto other venues. I know you've been working pretty diligently and having fun trying to beat the clock on loud, random interval interruptions like it's a personal challenge that you're very competitive about and focused on winning, but it's pretty clear by now that isn't gonna happen anytime soon, and instead of locked doors and loud constant distractions to give us a lot more time without random loud interruptions, maybe we should try and find some place without any distractions at all when we have sex for the first time. Let's find some no sexy distraction place. And no loud interruptions. Fuck in peace. At least the first time'.)

And then Amy planned car night. And car night happened. Or at least halfway happened. When they were driving out to the middle of nowhere to fuck in the backseat of his car under the stars that night, all he thought was gonna happen was he and Amy would have sex.

On the drive out there, he just thought it would be him and Amy having sex. On the drive out there, he didn't think Amy would be losing her virginity. Until she informed him that would be the case when they were in the backseat of the car that night.

He just wanted no interruptions, no distractions, and a positive amount of romance points for their first time together. He wanted a lot more than that for Amy's first time. He wanted a lot better than that for her first time. And, like he told her, the romance points had dipped back into negative and the night sky full of stars wasn't enough positive romance points to make up the difference.

* * *

 Before Amy departed Jake made one last plea.

“You know, it'll be faster if you just help me plan, Ms. Awesome-movie-date-planner. By refusing to help me figure out what to do you're just prolonging this whole thing. I ran out of romantic date ideas on our first date. I used _all_ my ideas then. That took all I had. I didn't ration my best romantic date material. I used it all on our first date. It's gonna take me forever to find something good enough by myself. You can speed this whole process along if you just help me find something that works. What happened to horny Amy Santiago who couldn't wait to have sex? I want her back. You're just making yourself wait longer cause of how much I suck at planning.”

“I have faith in you,” she said, her voice sultry and dripping with false sympathy as she kissed him on the cheek like the wicked and diabolical tease she was. “And Horny Amy Santiago is back home in Georgetown touching herself and picturing Jake Peralta, so I think she can hold her own a bit longer.”

“God, you're so not helping,” he groaned.

“Oh trust me, I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how at the end of last update I said what I had written for one chapter was almost 5,000 words before I decided to split them up in two separate chapters?  
> Well, looking right now, the word count for chapter 8 is 2,000 words.  
> And the word count for chapter 9 right here is just above 5,000 words.
> 
> That's why this update took so long even though I published the latest chapter last week saying I was halfways done. I accidentally ended up adding another 2,000 words to a chapter that I thought was almost finished at 3,000 words.
> 
> But that means that you get 7,000 words for these two chapters instead of getting 5,000 words for these two chapters. Does that make up for it a little bit? Am I forgiven?


	10. Destination

“So where are we going?” She asked eagerly, still bent on trying to guess the venue even though Jake insisted on secrecy. The direction they were driving in was away from both Hudson and Georgetown, so you could say she was having a bit of fun trying to guess the mystery destination.

“If I tell you now, you're gonna make fun of me the whole ride. So just think of it as a surprise until we get there.”

After that Amy just tried guessing the most outlandish things she could think of that would be reasons why he thought she would make fun of him.

“Is it a sex dungeon?” She hazarded on what had to be her 16th guess.

“Dude! What! Of course not! Where would I even find one of those! Oh my god, stop guessing, you're making it worse! Just shut up! Stop talking about sex dungeons!”

* * *

 Jake had a sinking feeling as they got closer and closer.

Amy was just looking out the window, a light little wonder on her face as she kept whipping her head back and forth to stare up at the ginormous trees passing by that were suddenly, like, everywhere. This place was only three hours away, but suddenly they were driving on a small road in like the middle of a full blown forest or something. They looked like evergreens. He didn't think they had evergreens in this state. Or like redwoods, or something. Jake didn't really know his trees. Just that these were huge.

Super tall trees, and everything around them had suddenly taken a turn for the forest-y. And that's when his stomach started sinking. This was gonna be bad. This was gonna be awful.

Jake took the last turn according to the directions, and it was way worse than it was supposed to be.

“No, no, no,” he uselessly protested as they pulled in. “This is so much worse than it looked. This is awful.”

“A cabin in the woods? Jake, you shouldn't have,” Amy grinned, absolutely gleeful at how embarrassed he was right now. Oh my god, he was never gonna live this down.

“First off, that is a horror movie. Second off, you're right, I shouldn't have. This place is awful. Let's go someplace else. Let's get a hotel or something.”

“You only think it's awful cause it's so sappy. And you're right. It is unbelievably sappy,” Amy goaded him, and Jake started banging his head on the steering wheel in a futile attempt to turn back time.

“How long did you get it for?”

“This was the only free weekend on your schedule,” he grumbled.

“A weekend getaway?” She laughed. “That settles it. We are definitely staying.”

She unbuckled her seat belt and then his, and Jake groaned. He didn't even want to get out of the car, just freeze right there and remain absolutely motionless for the next couple millenia.

He was not a sappy person. He refused to be. And yeah, he'd said some pretty sappy things to Amy, but that was just saying stuff. This was like a sappy action. An action he never meant to be this sappy.

And really the important thing was that Amy liked it, and also enjoyed his embarrassment. Really it shouldn't be a problem. But every time someone pointed out one of this cringe worthy sappy things (not that it happened a lot, because he wasn't anywhere close to sappy a lot) there was a little part of him that died each and every time.

“I didn't put any work into choosing this place. Whatever's good or bad about it has nothing to do with me.”

* * *

  _He actually did. And he maybe got just a bit of help from Charles finding some nice places, because he didn't even know where to look._

“ _I wanna go somewhere nice this weekend... with Amy,” he mumbles, just cringing, because calling on Charles was a last resort option. He didn't have anywhere else to turn._

“ _Say no more,” Charles grins._

_He then compiled pretty much a master list of places and gave that to Jake, who then promptly shut him out of the process because he didn't want Charles to be anymore involved with it._

_Jake actually did put a bit of work into choosing, basically all the work after the master list. And even that conversation actually took place two weekends ago, so yeah... he put some time and work into it._

* * *

 “Liar,” Amy rubbed it in with a playful grin, because they both knew it was true. And, come on, she could at least _try_ to hide how amused she was. Instead of just teasing him all smug and superior in the face of his mortifying sappiness.

“If you don't stop making fun of me, I'm gonna leave,” he issued an empty threat. “You can stay if you want, but me and my car are going. Someplace else to have fun with you this weekend, or dropping you off and trying again next time. Or just call me for a ride if you wanna stay all alone in a cabin in the woods. Not here. I'm not staying here.”

“No you won't,” Amy called him on it with little flourish. “Because you picked this place out cause you liked it. And you promised you would make it up to me.”

* * *

 Jake just collapsed face down on the hardwood floor, refusing to move, just laid there like he was absolutely, completely, and utterly dead.

Just laid there like a dead starfish.

Collapsed face first on the floor and wouldn't move a muscle- cause even though it was Amy and he loved Amy, he felt so cringy that he thought he might cringe so hard he would break all his bones and actually end up dead. He just might die from all the cringe.

Amy made a few trips in and out to unpack the car while he was lying there useless on the floor.

“Quit being so melodramatic,” she kicked him lightly as she passed by, and Jake only groaned in response.

“Oh sweet, there's a TV and a DVD player hooked up. I brought my laptop just in case cause _someone_ insisted on keeping this all a mystery, but it's good we get to watch the DVD on a big screen.”

“Is it porn? Do they even make porn on DVDs anymore?” Jake asked, popping his head up to ask his question, too curious at her statement to keep hiding his face.

“No!” She laughed. “I brought Die Hard. All of them. Die Hards? I brought the Die Hards.”

Jake perked up, momentarily distracted. “Really? Why?”

“Cause you're pretty predictable when it comes down to it. I knew you'd end up doing something cheesy and get embarrassed about how you're the best boyfriend in the world. I still can't fathom why your natural reaction to doing sweet stuff is to feel all self conscious, cause if I was as romantic as you are I would brag to anyone who would listen. I'd probably start a blog or something, that's what people do nowadays, right? 'Amy's tips for sweeping a guy or girl off their feet'. I would definitely come up with a better name than that. So I don't think you have anything to be embarrassed about, but I don't mind. One: you are so cute when your face gets all red. And two: even though you get embarrassed every time you still do the corny stuff without fail. So if you wanna stop laying on the floor you could actually come sit down by me and I'll get the DVD started.”

* * *

  _That's how it came to this. Jake laying on the floor, his head placed on Amy's lap, her stroking his hair while they watch the best movie ever created._

_Amy's softly playing with his hair, and everything about being next to her is nice and easy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on calling this chapter "Cabin in the woods", but decided against it so there wouldn't be a spoiler just by chapter title. But I really wanted to. I /really/ wanted to.


	11. Transition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I am just so creative when it comes to chapter titles

"Can I kiss you?"

"Why in the _world_ do you think you have to ask?" He chuckled.

"Didn't want to make you too nervous," Amy teased, tongue in cheek.

Jake wanted to make some objection about how he wasn't nervous, he was _never_ nervous, nervousness had nothing to do with what all of this was about, but-

But Amy had already made her way over to where he was sitting on the floor and crawled into his lap and his whole mouth went dry. She's doing it on purpose, he was sure of it.

She had shut off the TV after the credits from the second best movie ever made started rolling, turned to him with that teasy little smirk, then _stalked_ over to him on all fours. She didn't crawl into his lap. She stalked into his lap, and stole the witty reply right from his mouth just by the look in her eye. Oh yeah, she was definitely doing it on purpose. The hardly concealed flicker of amusement in her eyes as she watched his reaction was clue enough that she was messing with him- and she wasn't exactly trying to hide the fact with that mischievous and provocative smirk she was wearing.

Truth be told, he liked Amy messing with him. Truth be told, he _loved_ Amy messing with him. Because if being messed with meant you had the most beautiful girl in the world sitting in your lap and teasing you both sexually and jokingly, then sign him right up.

After she had wrapped both arms around his neck, Jake tried to unite their lips, but she dodged his kiss. Pulled back just to look at him for a bit longer. Savor the moment, if you will.

Because while Bruce Willis saving lives and taking down bad guys in the sequel was enough to distract her incredibly sweet and downright adorable boyfriend, it wasn't enough to distract her. Like at all.

Even when she was brushing his hair when his head was in her lap and looking down at him being just the cutest thing in existence, eyes glued to the screen- of course Jake being the cutest thing in the world didn't distract her from how much she was dying to have sex with him. She had a very cute boyfriend- that was nothing new. Him being cute like he always was just distracted her even more.

Besides, he could wait a little longer to kiss her when she had waited _so_ long to have this moment with him.

"Aw, come on," he whined. "You can't ask if you can kiss me and then just _not_ kiss me."

She pretended to mull over his argument. "Pretty sure that's my prerogative, Jake."

"Pretty sure I don't know what that word means, so I'm gonna assume you agree with me and yes, Amy Santiago is a big ol' meanie head for keeping her lips to herself," he said, kissing her collarbone, his arm snaking around her back to pull her closer, his left hand settling on her hip.

Whether that actually won her over or she just got tired of waiting he'll never know, but he didn't care either, because Amy kissed him, and when Amy kissed him he couldn't have a care in the world. She had that effect on him.

Just her lips had that effect on him. Her hands, however... they were another matter. Because her hands decided to move with her lips, and as far as he was concerned, the world didn't even _exist_ anymore. It only took like half a millisecond of tonguing at the seam of his lips before he eagerly parted for her, and she wasted even less time delving past and deepening their kiss. She shifted a bit (purposely, she has to admit) against his crotch, making him let out a sound that was just music to her ears.

Just because she's kissed him a million times by this point didn't change the fact that kissing him was _always_ an experience. Jake's lips were warm and inviting (they always were) as they melded together, his tongue mingling and mixing with hers and it was so easy to lose herself in him.

But before long she stopped, not content with merely kissing his mouth. Not content with kissing _just_ his mouth.

"You look so good like this," she smiled at his kissed red lips, just hanging open as he looked up at her with the cutest look of confusion on his very debauched face at her sudden departure.

"Do I?" His lips quirked up in a grin, threading his hands through her hair.

"Oh, definitely," Amy confirmed, then crashed her lips to his.

* * *

"God, I've been looking forward to this," Amy groaned as he ran his hand up her leg, hitching her up further so she could press against him harder.

"Yeah?" He asked, nipping her neck, and Amy automatically tilted her head to the side give him more room.

"Yeah. And don't you dare try to be a gentleman on my behalf. I don't usually masturbate every day, but I've had to this past week because waiting for tonight has been _torture_ , Jake. Thinking about you. But the wait was definitely worth it since at least no one can walk in on us this time. And I get to do everything I've wanted to you," she murmured, and Jake swallowed loudly. As she shifted she could feel him hard in his jeans.

"Wanna move this to the bed?"

Jake just nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on my track record, and how long you guys had to wait for this update, chapter 12 will probably come out in about 2.5 years, give or take.  
> Kidding, kidding, I swear. I just haven't been in a writing place for awhile, hence the low rate of updates.


End file.
